Before The Lightening Scar: Sixth year
by TheSexiestMarauderIsHere
Summary: Ever wondered how Lily, her friends and the Marauders coped through sixth year? What problems they had? How James' and Lily' friendship happened? Well this is a detailed chapter story involving everything! Involving the war, quidditch, friendships and more! Read and review! Only the ideas are mine, none of the characters! Saves saying it on every chapter ;)
1. Chapter 1: New Starts and Feasts

Lily Evans was a redhead and everything that came with that title; a fiery temper, the light scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks, the pale skin, and of course the auburn hair that often curled naturally. Along with this Lily Evans was small girl of 5 foot and 5 inches, curvy in all the right places and unnaturally kind, sweet and caring to everyone, but the most amazing feature of her was the almond shaped emerald eyes that gave the effect that she was evaluating everyone.

Of course, Lily wasn't a normal girl; she was a witch and attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. On her 11th birthday, she received a visit from an old man with a long silver beard and hair dressed in purple robes with half moons and stars on. Obviously, this surprised her mother, Sally, father, Robbie and sister Petunia but together the family of four invited the man to sit and have some tea while he explained what Miss Evans was and how she was selected to attend his school where she could learn how to control her magic and use it properly. This man was Albus Dumbledore, and he was headmaster of this amazing school that was Hogwarts. On September 1st of that year, Lily Evans started attending Hogwarts where she was sorted in to Gryffindor House and met her best friends and roommates; Samantha Smith, Marlene McKinnon, Mary McDonald and Alice Prewitt. Alongside them in Gryffindor house and their year, were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew…

It was now September 1st in 1976, meaning it was the beginning of Lily's sixth year at her favourite place in the world and the sixth year with her friends. Walking through the supposedly solid brick wall in Kings Cross Station in London, Lily found herself on Platform 9 ¾ facing a giant scarlet steam engine and crowds of families saying their goodbyes before the children boarded the train. Unconsciously, Lily's eyes sought out her ultimate best friend, Samantha Smith, who was a dark brunette with dark brown eyes, a tall (5 foot and 7 inches) but slight and curvy frame. Sammy was the funniest, most daring and adventurous person the redhead knew. It was these differences that attracted the two to become best friends, their friendship rivalled even that of James' and Sirius'. Currently, Samantha was standing next to Mr. And Mrs. Potter (Dorea and Charlus), James, Sirius and Remus, receiving her goodbye hugs from the elderly couple smiling sweetly.

Almost instantly and as if she could feel her friends gaze, Sam pivoted to face Lily and sprinted towards her before lifting and spinning her around, "Lily! I haven't seen you in ages! How was Petunia? Was she being a right cow again?! Oh it doesn't matter, are you ok?" Sam said panting slightly from excitement. Laughing Lily replied just as eagerly, "I'm brill Sammy, Petunia was a cow of course, and I only saw you two days ago to get all our stuff from Diagon Alley! Anyway how is my favourite chaser?!" watching her friends face carefully. At this, Sammy's face fell a bit and the spark in her eyes dulled, "oh you know, same old same old. Mother and father left for a mission that's going to last at least 6 months…. Stayed at the Potter's though! And Sirius moved in! Oh Lily…." fading in volume as Lily's thoughts wondered.

Samantha's parents were well known purebloods and Auror's and they often left for missions that lasted an awfully long time, fortunately for their only child, they lived right next to the Potter's who thought of her as their own daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were more than family friends to Sam; they were her real parents, more so than her blood related ones at least. James Potter and Sam were brother and sister, overcoming the lack in blood ties by how close they were. They had grown up, faced all their problems and were accepted and lived through Hogwarts together. Even the Marauders (James Potter and the other Gryffindor boys in Lily's year formed this group, they were closer than brothers and pranked everyone within an inch of their lives) had graciously accepted Sam as their sister and treated her just like James did. Samantha was basically an Honorary Marauder to make up for her lack in family. Meanwhile, Lily, Marlene, Mary and Alice were all Sammy's sisters and were just as close as the boys were.

Unfortunately James and Lily were at a long time standing disagreement; James loved Lily, constantly asking her out and showing off but Lily hated him for what he did and how he went about it. However the two never stopped their sister from being friends with the other. Even after the fateful event after their Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L where James and Sirius were bullying Lily's best friend and when she tried to help, Snape called her a 'mud blood' effectively breaking off their friendship and hurting the girl more than she cared to admit.

Soon enough, the two girls were joined by the other three Gryffindor sixth year girls, which resulted in a giant group hug with lots of squealing and giggling. Eventually when the loud whistle blew, the five girls all sprinted for the train and an empty compartment. Excusing herself politely after securing their compartment, Lily headed to the front of the train where the Prefects compartment was located for the beginning of the year meeting and to see who the new Head students were. The meeting consisted of being briefed on the duties for the year and arranging a time for a proper meeting that Sunday. Finally Lily escaped the confines of the crammed compartment after half an hour and headed back along the train with Remus, a close friend because even though he was a Marauder, Lily believed he was a good person at heart, even if he was a little mysterious.

The train ride to somewhere in Scotland where Hogwarts was situated passed quickly with the girls catching up and talking about their summers, up until the sweet trolley passed where the group bought almost half of everything on there leaving it nearly empty. Halfway through a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, Sam declared, "James is Quidditch captain now" mostly aiming the statement at Marlene who was the teams beater alongside Sirius. Scoffing, Lily demanded, "Potter, captain? He's only going to abuse the power! He'll be bossing you two about like mad-" but was soon cut off by Sam, "no. Lily he's had to mature over the summer. He isn't like he was in fifth year. I've basically lived with him this summer and his parents have nearly died several times so he's trying to prove to them that they should be proud, not that they aren't already. So he's matured" Sam paused, "Also he's promised to just try and be friends with you; no showing off, no asking you out, just being a normal guy like he is with me. Please try and be his friend? Especially in times like this Gryffindor cant spilt like we have before, we need to come together so we aren't singled out" aiming her little speech towards everyone at the end.

Samantha's speech received silence whilst everyone mulled it over, giving Sam the chance to watch people's reactions. Lily's was weary and hesitant but she was still considering it as a possibility. Marlene wasn't too keen on the idea as the Marauders seem to know something that she didnt, she suspected it was something to do with Sirius. Mary's was hesitant at first but soon seemed to warm to the idea. Last but not least, Alice was beaming from the start, she had always admired the boys for their ability to cheer people up with a single prank, it was Alice's belief that they would need that a lot in times to come. Without warning, Lily spoke up, "I guess you have a point, Sam. But you have to remember what he's done to me and the rest of us over the years. I know he's your brother in a way, I don't get why, but he is and whilst that's all well and good I don't think I could... forget what has happened. Not easily. Especially after last year" hesitantly and with a half pleading and half firm look in her eyes.

After a moment of deliberation, Samantha debated, "I know, Lils. But you can't hold everything against him forever. At least think it over and give it ago?" guilting the redhead into nodding. Squealing, Sam jumped up and tackled her friend into a massive bear hug before running off shouting, "I'll be right back! You won't regret this, I promise! I have to go tell him!". Meanwhile back in the compartment, the girls were all staring at each other wondering when it had suddenly become ok to be friends with the Marauders even if it was for their sister's benefit. Sam returned 10 minutes later beaming ear to ear like the Cheshire cat and sat down, carrying on like everything was normal. All until Lily suggested that they should get changed into their school robes before they arrived, at least, which was greeted by four groans.

Once the train stopped in Hogsmeade Station, the girls grabbed their trunks quickly before bounding off the train, waving to Hagrid the gamekeeper of the school, and finally jumping into a carriage that was drawn by thestrals. Once at the beautiful castle that stood out against the dark blue night, the Gryffindor sixth year girls all bustled into the Great Hall and plopped themselves down on a bench next to the Marauders who greeted them all with large grins. After 15 minutes of everyone chatting, Professor McGonagall, deputy head of Hogwarts and Head of Gryffindor House, entered the hall carrying a three-legged stool and a torn hat, leading all the new first years in to stand before the teachers table.

When the hat was placed on the stool, a large rip near the brim opened and started singing, surprising many of the new students and being ignored by everyone that was used to the event. The hat sang of how hard times were going to fall on the school and Wizarding world and whilst he had to quarter the students, he wished everyone to come together to fight. Lily Evans usually listened to the hat as it gave sound advice, but this year after remembering her promise chose to inspect her potential friends and the people she was sat with.

Next to her was Remus Lupin; a kind-hearted boy with dirty blonde shaggy hair and piercing sea blue eyes, Remus was a sweet caring and studious friend and student, also being her fellow sixth year Gryffindor prefect. Remus was also a werewolf; it was due to this that he had a tall but skinny form at 6 foot and 2 inches. Lily had figured that out in third year when she saw him exit the Hospital Wing on the night of the full moon and head to the Whomping Willow with the nurse, Madam Gold. The next day, Lily had skipped divination to visit Remus in the hospital wing and confronted the boy who suddenly became very downhearted, but was cheered up when Lily reassured him that she didn't think any differently of him. This confession was the reason the prefects were such good friends.

On the other side of Remus was Sirius Black. Although Sirius came from a pureblood and strictly anti-muggleborn and muggle family, he was an awfully kind and sweet person when you got to know him and was extremely loyal to his friends, but before that he would appear cool, cold and indifferent. In the summer just passed, Sirius had run away from home after being beaten for his company and different views from his parents. Sirius believed the exact opposite of his family, he believed muggleborns deserved a place in their world as much as pure bloods did. It was because of this, that Sirius started living with the Potter's who thought of him like a son like they did with Sam as a daughter. Sirius had shoulder-length black hair that fell in his stormy grey eyes majestically and was a well built and toned boy that was 6 foot and 4 inches. Sirius Black was the beater on the Gryffindor quidditch team alongside Marlene.

Opposite Sirius was James Potter. With messy raven black hair that never seemed to lie flat no matter how hard he tried and hazel eyes with flecks of green and gold, James was the epitome of messy but elegant. James was also a pureblood but his family was some of the few families that vouched for muggles and muggleborns, they were often ridiculed by the pure blood-mania families of their world. James was tall at 6 foot and 3 inches and well built with muscles from all the quidditch. Over the summer, James received a letter promoting him to Gryffindor quidditch captain, he was also a chaser with Samantha. He was calm, loyal and overprotective over his friends.

Next to James, was Peter Pettigrew. The boy was short at 5 foot and 4 inches making him the smallest and shorter than even Lily. He had a small face that looked like he was constantly in pain and was slightly on the chubby side. Pettigrew followed the black haired boys around like a puppy but wasn't any good at lessons or anything to do with them. It was due to the other three Marauders that he passed his O.W.L's last year. Peter had short blonde hair and muddy brown eyes. He was the only Marauder that the girls didn't fawn over but he didn't care. Peter was kind, passive and funny when you got to know him.

Opposite Lily was Sam who sat next to Marlene. Marlene was about 5 foot and 7 inches making her the tallest sixth year Gryffindor girl. She had long black hair that she usually wore in a ponytail that brought out her light blue eyes that sparkled immensely when she was happy. Marlene was the happy-go-lucky type of girl but was also beautiful, clever and witty, she was also the fashion guru of the group. Marly (the girls nickname for her) was almost placed in Ravenclaw but when the hat saw her bravery through her intelligence it didn't have a choice, her bravery was that strong.

Next to Marly was Alice. Alice had light brown hair in a pixie haircut that framed her angular face perfectly and brought out her grey coloured eyes that radiated happiness all the time. The girl was 5 foot and 5 inches the same height as Lily herself and was extremely shy, intelligent and bubbly. Since 5th year, Alice had been dating Frank Longbottom from Hufflepuff in the year above them and they had been family friends since she was born. Alice's strongest subject was Herbology and helped her friends through the subject easily when they were stuck or confused.

Mary was next to Lily. Mary was 5 foot and 6 inches but was only the slightly rounder side of the group, not that she was fat, she just had a fuller face and body that the rest of the girls. She had naturally bleach blonde hair and pale green eyes that she believed to be much uglier than Lily's. Mary McDonald was a stubborn, flirty but kind and caring person. The exact type of person that sorted out arguments between her friends when things got rough.

Together they made up the Gryffindor sixth years, the weirdest and proudest of the sixth years, mind you.

It was then that the hat's song finished so Lily, along with the others, started clapping before listening to where each student went and would be staying with for their 7 years, making new friends and facing everyday troubles.

About 10 minutes later when the Hat had done its job, Dumbledore stood, "welcome back students and to our new ones, hello! I hope you've all had wonderful summers and that you are now well rested and ready for another academic year. I have a few start-of-term notices though. The Forbidden Forest in the grounds is exactly that, forbidden, it would do some of you some good to remember that" at this the old mans blue eyes twinkled in the Marauders direction causing them to grin guiltily, "anyway, no magic in corridors and behave this year please. We are entering dark times and we must unite to conquer them… I've kept you long enough now so you can eat and get to bed ready for tomorrows classes" at these words piles of every imaginable food appeared on the tables causing Sirius and James to cheer loudly like the hungry men they were.

Throughout dinner, the girls all caught up with the boys. To Lily's surprise and Lily's alone, the boys were actually extremely kind and were helping them into their new friendship easily. What surprised Lily further was that James was talking to her like he did with Sam but without the family bond. Easily, happily and friendly. It was at this moment that Lily decided that being the Marauders friend wouldn't be all that bad. The meal passed quickly with the sixth years chatting pleasantly and heading up to the common room once the feast was over and friends all caught up and revelling in the news of their friends summers. Filled to the brim with food, Sam walked sluggishly up the stairs with James' arm draped over one shoulder and Sirius' over the other one carrying her but joking and laughing to keep her awake until she could properly jump into bed and sleep the night away. To anyone outside the group it would appear that the two boys were flirting shamelessly, but in truth they were two brothers and one little sister comforting and distracting each other easily and acting closer than most siblings did.

Once in the red and gold themed room that was the Gryffindor common room with the sofas and chairs around the roaring fire and tables filled with friends chatting, the sixth years all said their goodnights, exchanged hugs in the cases of James and Sammy, and headed up to bed. When everyone was changed and settling in bed, Sam approached hesitantly, "so what do you guys think? Can you all be friends with the guys?" and to her surprise it was Lily was answered firmly for everyone "yes they are actually really nice and I see why you are friends with them… thanks for making me see sense" with a small smile at the end. Pleased, Sam nodded and Lily pulled the curtains across the windows and finally her bed before going into a sleep filled with peaceful dreams of what the year could hold.

**Authors Note: **Well, hey I'm a new author so its my first fanfic. Anyway this is set at the beginning of sixth year and will describe James and Lily's friendship and later relationship. I may also include some other relationships like I have done with Alice and Frank…. Well I would love you loads if you review this chapter and all the rest that come! I hope this will be about 20 chapters long if not longer and then a sequel for 7th year and then another story for when they leave Hogwarts. I want to stick closely to the books that Ms. Rowling has so amazingly written… I actually did post this and another chapter the other day but I had to take it down because bits didn't make sense and I missed some parts out. Anyway please review ?


	2. Chapter 2: Busy Day and New Discoveries

The next day, Lily woke up bright and early to take her usual shower before everyone else woke up. After stepping into the spacious bathroom, the luxurious shower seemed to be calling her name temptingly, causing the small girl to give in and strip down before stepping in, turning on the water and setting it to a comfortable temperature. After 5 minutes, Lily stepped out of the shower with washed hair and a clean body and started brushing her teeth whilst drying her hair with her wand, reflecting on her dreams during the last night. Everything was normal, her parents were still nervous around her, her sister continuously called her a freak and the excitement of coming back to Hogwarts all showed up in her dream, but then Sam's words kept repeating how James had matured and then her dream all changed. It felt like it was a few months, maybe a year, later and her and James were friends, play fighting to take their minds off the news in the Daily Prophet that had arrived that morning. Everything was fun and relaxed, nothing was forced not even any smiles or the teasing attitudes.

After reflecting for a few minutes on the meaning of her dream, Lily stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped securely around her thin body before getting dressed into her Hogwarts uniform. But today she wanted a change. After all, she was 16. So Lily rolled her skirt up at the waist so it rested just over 10 cm above her knee, she knew it wasn't much of a difference to other people like Samantha who had had a short skirt ever since Lily could remember, but to her it was a big step to loosening up. Plus it was only the first day of the year and term so who knew how else and how much more the redhead could loosen up.

Grinning smugly, Lily started the task of waking up her friends for the first day of the year and classes. Starting with Marly and Mary first, Lily headed to the girls' beds and gently shook them until they woke up which Lily estimated took no more than a minute altogether. Sighing determinedly, the redhead motioned for the other two girls to start waking up Alice while she did the same for Samantha. Heading towards her best friends bed, Lily grabbed her pillow and whacked Sam over the head, narrowly missed the chasers half-asleep attempt of hitting her and drew her wand from her sleeve. Rolling her eyes, Lily murmured, "1...2...3, aguamenti!" causing a jet of water to spurt out from her wand and all over the sleeping brunette. Screaming in alarm, Sam jumped out of bed narrowly avoiding knocking Lily over and in to the bathroom, turning the shower on in an instant.

After successfully waking Alice up, the three girls grabbed their clothes and headed into the bathroom (seeing as Hogwarts was a magic school, when the first years moved into the dormitory, the bathroom would automatically create the correct number of showers for each student in the dorm), leaving Lily alone. Making use of her time, Lily styled her hair into a ponytail with the shorter bits near her face down and applied her trademark makeup of a thin line of black eyeliner on her top lid and some mascara on her red eyelashes, _'it's just a stupid thing being a redhead! We already have to cope with red hair let alone red eyelashes! It's just plain_ _stupid_' she thought bitterly. Just as Lily finished that train of thought, Sam walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body securely and set about styling her hair whilst dressing in her uniform. As her best friend did this, Lily walked over to her bag, packing all her books just in case, before turning to face Sam to find her fully dressed apart from her robes and staring down at the redheads skirt, mouth slightly open.

After a moment of giggling at Sammy's expression, Lily cleared her throat and proclaimed, "why Sam if you keep your mouth open any longer then a fly is going fly in and down your throat!" effectively breaking the girl out of her stupor. Eyeing Lily suspiciously, causing the redhead to internally roll her eyes, Sam asked, "so short skirt, huh? Um why? Are you trying to impress someone? Trying to show Snape what he's missing out on? Wait! Crap! Shit! Dammit, Lil I'm sorry I didn't mean to mention the tossers na-" but was soon cut off by Lily laughing outright.

After a few minutes in which Lily struggled to calm down and Samantha stared ludicrously at the girl, the redhead managed to choke out, "it's fine, hun, just fine. I don't care what he thinks anymore, not after what he called me anyway. I have you guys and maybe the Marauders now. I don't know why I didn't see that before and hung out with that slime ball!" winking at the end. Smirking perfectly, a trait she picked up from hanging out with the Marauders, Sam replied "there's the Lil we all know and love, thought we lost you after O.W.L's, I did. Wait till Marly, Mary and Alice hear about this!" causing the first girl mentioned to turn her head suddenly in their direction as she exited the bathroom. Rubbing her neck from when it cricked as she turned her head, Marly asked, "hear about what?" but her only reply was Lily's broken words from lack of breath as Sam hugged her tightly, "apparently, was acting different, after O.W.L's, but apparently back now" gasping for air as she was released.

During the broken up explanation, the last two girls exited the bathroom in time to hear the bit about Lily being back and high 5'ed extravagantly, resulting in Lily to ask "did I really change that much?" and sigh begrudgingly. As the other three girls dressed, Sammy pushed Lily back on to her bed and explained what she was like after Snape called her the 'M' word; "shy, angry, sad, depressed, any negative emotion basically, and you didn't even notice it. You changed so much and I'm just glad to have you back" Sam whispered the last part so only Lily could hear her.

After saying they would meet the other three down in the Great Hall for breakfast, Sam and Lily shuffled down the 6 staircases, chatting about how big of a cow Petunia was and how she looked like a toothpick when compared to her boyfriend, Vernon Dursley, or the whale as the girls referred to him after he had accidentally sat on Mr Evans and nearly crushed him. Once they arrived at the Hall, the two girls were a instantly shouted at by the Marauders to come and sit with them and after a pleading look from her best mate beside her, Lily gave in and led the way over before sitting down next to James trying to make an effort. When James realised just who had sat next to him, he turned to face Lily and asked, "alright Evans?" hoping he would get a friendly reply and not a scowl like he normally did. Without thinking, Lily corrected, "it's Lily. I mean we're friends now, aren't we? And my friends call me Lily. Honestly, James" grinning at how easily the name fell from her lips and the befuddled look on the boy's face.

Roughly three minutes later, the other three girls joined the table and started chatting with Remus and Peter instantly as they ate their breakfast whilst Sirius and Sammy discussed how well their best mates were getting on and James and Lily were just talking normally. Once all the plates were cleared, McGonagall walked briskly over to their group, handed everyone a blank piece of parchment and tapped them all before walking off to the next group of Gryffindor students. Looking down at their timetables, the group all groaned in frustration.

monday | Transfiguration. |. Potions. |. Charms. |

tuesday | Charms. |. Herbology. |. DADA. |

wednesday| Potions. |. DADA. |. Transfiguration. |

thursday | DADA. |. Charms. |. History of Magic. |

friday. | Divination. |. Ancient Runes. |. Free Block. |

Trying to find a good thing amongst everything, Sirius declared, "hey, at least everything is all double blocks! Less exercise! Oh and we have a free block last thing on a Friday! That has to be good! Come on guys!" getting more hyperactive the more he spoke. Sighing, Remus grumbled, "all well and good, Pad- dammit Sirius. But seriously it's still school and we'll probably have nearly every lesson with the Slytherins... Siriusly Sirius, think sometimes will you?" causing everyone apart from the two boys to "ooooo". Smirking, Sirius batted his eyelashes teasingly at Remus, "of course, Remi-poo, anything for you! Just like you would do anyt-" but was cut off by Remus slamming his hand over the boys mouth. Cleverly ignoring the last sentence, Mary suggested, "honestly, guys, we don't want to hear about your sex life. Lets go to Transfiguration" grabbing her bag and standing from the bench. Following the suggestion, the boys grouped together and headed towards the fourth floor where McGonagall's and the Transfiguration classroom was, the girls did the same and walked behind the others wondering who the new DADA teacher would be seeing as they weren't at the start-of-term feast the previous night.

Soon enough, the groups arrived at the classroom and filed in seeing as a few Ravenclaw's were already sitting at the front. Straight away, the Marauders headed to the four seats on the right side of the room right at the back, settling in with Peter closest to the wall, then Sirius, then James and finally Remus coming out towards the aisle. Following suit, Mary, then Marlene, Sammy and Lily all shuffled into the four seats in front of the boys whilst Alice carried on to the front to sit with her neighbour, Amelia Bones from Ravenclaw. The lesson commenced shortly after that when McGonagall strode in already flicking her wand so the years curriculum was written on the black board at the front of the room and told the sixth years to copy it all down before teaching about animagi. Even though the lesson itself wasn't too bad, the homework was; a 3 foot essay on the advantages, disadvantages and methods of becoming an animagus, due on Wednesday.

As always in Potions, Slughorn began the year with laying out 5 potions for the class to recognise and to remember the effects and side- effects of each particular potion. When the sixth year Gryffindors entered the room, and seeing as each table sat 8 (Peter chose to drop the subject after O.W.L's as he only managed to scrape an Acceptable) they all a migrated to a table with the best smelling potion. Just like in Transfiguration, the group all chatted until the teacher called for their attention when all the students had arrived. Clutching his round belly as he spoke, Slughorn started the class, "greetings students. Well done to all of you for passing your O.W.L level Potions exam! Anyway! On with identifying these potions." as he ambled over to where the Gryffindors sat, Slughorn started picking on students at each desk starting with Lily, "ah, miss Evans, lets start with the potion you're sat next to. What do you think?" obviously thinking Lily was paying attention.

Startled out of her daydream by an elbow in her ribs from Samantha, Lily asked, "sorry what was the question? I wasnt listening, sorry sir" embarassed but she only received a chuckle before the explanation, "thats quite alright miss Evans, you see this is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. It makes anyone near the potion smell the things they love most. Of course, this potion doesnt create love but merely gives the impression of it, quite dangerous really. But of course, this is seventh year level so we wont be making it this year, I just wanted to see who would recognise it. Does anyone know the side-effects of Amortentia?" and to everyones surprise it was Sirus' hand that was first in the air, beating both the Potion experts, Lily and Severus Snape. Stunned, Slughorn asked Sirius, "ok, Black, what are they?" to which the boy replied, "the effects of the potion on a person are described to be instantaneous; with the person who drank it appearing pale and sickly and becoming obsessed with the object of their affections. They often speak of the object of their affections as though they were hit with a ray of the purest sunlight and becoming excited or dangerously unstable towards others. Sir" smirking slightly at James and Remus who were staring at him incredulously.

Once Slughorn's attention was at the other table, all of the other 7 Gryffindor students turned to face Sirius, demanding an explanation which he eagerly gave, "I wanted to use it as a prank this year, read about the effects to see if it was worth it. It might be depends on the situation and on who we prank" smirking at the end. The rest of the Potions lesson passed quickly and they were assigned a 1 foot essay on the effects of a befuddlement draught as they would be making it the next week and due for the next lesson.

Next was lunch, which in the opinions of most of the Hogwarts students, passed much too quickly, and finally it was the last lesson of the day, Charms, and then they were free to relax. Charms was easy enough to get through as they were only revising what they had done in their O.W.L years. Flitwick liked to pick on the Gryffindor's a lot, more so than the other three houses anyway, but the group agreed it was probably because they were whispering to each other through the whole lesson. For homework, the N.E.W.T level class had to do 1 and a 1/2 foot essay on what three charms were best to use when looking for help in their opinion.

Finally the Gryffindor's were free and at the suggestion of Peter, sauntered down to the Black Lake to do their homework so they could enjoy what was left of the British summertime. Within an hour and a half, the group were all finished with their homework and were lazing about, basking in the sunlight and the girls even taking of their shoes and dipping their feet in the water.

Walking off a little way to think, Lily sat on the bank of the lake playing with blades of grass as she looked over towards the mountains beyond Hogsmeade, listening vaguely to her friends conversations. Without warning, James seemed to materialise beside her, "can I sit here with you?" causing her to nod without hesitation. A few moments passed in silence as she looked over back at the mountains and carried on thinking but was soon interrupted by the boy next to her, "so what are you thinking?" who then started to get a panicked look on his face. Deciding to put the poor boy out of his misery, Lily replied, "Sammy's family" but at James' confused look, elaborated, "it's just her parents are hardly there when she is, they always seem to be on missions. I know that they're helping defend our world against the dark wizards that are gaining in numbers, it's just they are bound to die soon and I don't think Samantha's going to be able to cope. They are the only blood- related family she has left and sure she us and the others as her 'adopted brothers and sisters'" putting speech marks around those last few words with her fingers like the girl they were discussing usually did, "but its just not the same. I'm just worried about her, I think she'd hurt herself somehow but... I'm not sure. Sorry I didn't mean to go overboard on you" smiling sheepishly at James.

After a few moments, James responded, "I know what you mean. I've been worrying about her all summer. Her parents were there for one week out of the 9, it's just lucky I live next door or Im not sure what she would have done. Something reckless no doubt. I don't know what I would do if something bad happened to her. If she got hurt or her parents did something utterly unforgivable... I know Sirius and Remus definitely feel the same way, not so sure about Pete though, he wasn't allowed to come over at all this summer. Anyway if her parents died, she's living with me and mum and dad. It's been arranged since she was born, seeing as I'm her parents godson and she's my parents goddaughter. It's all fine, Lily, and I'm sure she'll kill us if she finds out what we've been talkin-" but was cut off by Sirius shouting.

Deciding to investigate what all the noise was about, James helped Lily up from her sitting position and together they walked back to the rest of the group. As they got closer, Lily and James were able to distinguish what the boy was shouting, or rather singing, "hahaha, you have to jump in the lake in your underwear. Thats what you get for choosing a dare! Unless you're too chicken..." trailing off. Just as Lily was going to ask who was jumping in the lake, Samantha stood up with a determined look on her face and headed towards the lake whilst taking her clothes off apart from her underwear.

It was just before she jumped into the lake that everyone noticed 5 scars along Sam's ribs...

**Authors Note: **cliffhanger! Sorry, I just couldn't help myself it was too tempting... Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter and think the story so far is good. Thank you to **Siriuslysherlocked221** for your review! I really like constructive criticism, and praise!, so you really helped me! Anyway people please review! I love you!


	3. Chapter 3: Confrontation and Confession

Lily was shocked. Plain and simple, shocked. What had her friend done? Once Samantha had broken through the surface of the water, Lily was broken out of her trance and sprinted towards her best friend closely followed by the rest of the group. After everyone had arrived by the brunette, forming a semi- circle around her, Remus broke the silence by asking in a quiet dangerous voice, "Sammy, what's that on your ribs?" causing the girl to glance down, swear, "fuck" and grab her clothes and wand before bolting off towards the castle. Sighing dejectedly, Lily ran back to the beech tree the group were, grabbed Sam's and her own bag and darted after the distressed Gryffindor.

As she entered the Entrance Hall, Lily was stopped suddenly by Snape stepping purposely in front of her, blocking her path, "please, Lily. I'm sorry, I shouldn't-" but was soon cut off by Lily side stepping him and continuing to chase after her friend, "sorry Severus not now! Kinda busy!" she shouted over her shoulder at the Slytherin. Although Sam was an awfully fast runner due to quidditch, the redhead quickly caught up with her near the fifth floor girls bathroom but as soon as the girl saw her follower, she sprinted off to the Gryffindor dorm, ran up to her room and locked the door magically, causing Lily to step back quickly so she wasn't hit in the face.

Deciding to head down to the common room to wait for the others, Lily sat on the bottom stair to the girls dorm only to have James and Sirius burst in 5 minutes later demanding, "go get her please. Bring her up to our dorm. We've told the others to come up straight away when they get here. They were just dealing which Snape" and stormed up to their dorm with stony faces. Wondering why on earth the others were dealing with Snape, Lily followed the instructions she was given, strode up to her dorm door and knocked quietly, "Sammy. Please, Sammy, it's me, Lily. Please open up. I'm not mad. Please" effectively persuading Samantha to open the door sadly, "I'm sorry Lil, its just th-" but was cut off by the redhead grabbing her hand. Leading downstairs and then up the boys staircase, Lily only explained "the boys want you, I think they're spitting mad by the way they came in so be careful" which received a small whimper and an "oh merlin" before they reached the boys door.

As if they had been listening to what was happening in the corridor, Mary opened the door to let the girls in and gave her brunette friend a sympathetic look and after seeing the Marauders, Marly's and Alice's expressions, Samantha tried to back out of the room. Lily grabbed her retreating friends wrist and gave her a stern look which basically said she would make it worse if she ran away. Preparing herself, Samantha shuffled into the room and sat on James's bed when he pointed to it. Without warning the hazel- eyed boy waved his wand placing a silencing charm on the room and started speaking in a low and deadly voice, "Samantha, why would you do this to yourself? Self harm, really? I thought... I don't know actually. When? Why?" it was then that James knelt down in front of the girl, Sirius and Remus sat either side of her on the bed, Peter behind her and the other four girls behind James.

Staring determinedly down at her knees, Sam asked Lily, "you know in that one week that my parents were home, I invited you over to meet them and I had to floo you right home after I said that they didn't care?" which extracted a nod and a confused look from the redhead so Sammy carried on, "well when I got home, my parents sat me down and said that whilst they were excited I had a few friends, they didn't have time for them. And that I should keep purer company in times like this. So I exploded. I shouted that they didn't care about me, that they only kept me around because they saw me as an achievement not as a daughter. I said that if they didn't care about me and my friends then really they weren't my parents and I might as well run away. Ha, do you know how they tried to prove me wrong? They locked me in my room and told Dinky not to let me out till the morning of September 1st. So Dinky escorted me to my room and because I was so angry, when she left I broke the vase in my room. So it broke into little pieces and I used the biggest to... Do it. I used my bathroom to clean up all the blood and then my wand to conjure some bandages since the Ministry wouldn't know it was me because my parents were still home. But they left the next day. So Dinky let me out of my room. She doesn't know what I've done though, she would try to punish herself since she didn't stop me. But she couldnt even if she tried. So yeah, you can shout or whatever now..." but all that ensued was silence.

After a minute, Alice spoke up, "Sammy, it's ok. We won't sho-" but was cut off suddenly by Marly, "how deep?" which compelled Sam to put up 3 fingers for centimetres eliciting a menacing growl out of the boys and even Lily. Noticing that James was still in too much shock to speak, Sirius commanded, "we'll get you to stop. When you're at home, we'll get rid off all the glass in your room, we'll persuade Mum and Dad, damn Mr. and Mrs. Potter, to let you stay all summer at ours, and even when your parents are at home, you'll stay with us... That alright, Pro- James?" which had it's desired effect of snapping the other black- haired boy out of his shock. Shaking his head, James looked directly into Samantha's eyes to make sure she knew he was serious, "Sam you can live with us. Mum and Dad won't care, in fact they'll be thrilled. Ok? You're never going to self harm again. We will all make sure of that. I'll make sure you don't, even if I have to stun you. Which I hate doing..." at this the girl shifted suspiciously.

Noticing her friends movement, Lily pondered, "why did you have to stun her, James?" which dragged a chuckle out of the boy's throat and an explanation from Remus, "Sammy came over one morning over the summer and James was doing something he's not allowed to do. So she smirked and joined him, you know because she's her, and James saw his dad coming but Sam refused to come down so James here stunned her so she stopped climbing the tree and she fell out. It was lucky Sirius and I were below her so we caught her. The look on James' face when he realised what he had done was priceless" which caused everyone to laugh. Shuffling Remus out of the way coughing to cover his embarrassment, James gently sat next to his sister and asked, "may I?" motioning to her scars, understanding her brother easily, Sam nodded. Lily watched James' face carefully as he ran his fingers over the scars on everyone's sisters ribs, watching as concern and worry etched themselves on to his face. It was at that moment that Lily realised just how close the two people were, just how much James cared for Samantha, and vice versa, and just how much they understood each other. At that moment, stood in the sixth year Gryffindor boys dorm surrounded by her friends and showing concern for her sister and best friend, that Lily decided that James Potter wasn't actually that bad of a guy, the opposite actually, and that she wouldn't mind her dream from the last night coming true.

The rest of evening until dinner passed quickly with the 9 Gryffindors chatting about everything and anything sat on the four boys' beds, and when Sam started shivering, Sirius chucked her some jogging bottoms and a shirt so she could get changed into some warm clothes in the bathroom without going back to her dorm. Eventually, 7o'clock rolled around and the group decided to head down to have an early dinner so they could come back up and secure the sofas and armchairs around the fire. On the way down, Lily snatched Sam's wrist and slowed her down so they could talk alone, "Sammy, you know I love you right? You're my sister, my best friend and... Sam please don't... I don't know what I would do without you" tearing up slightly. Suddenly, Sam twirled the redhead around and gathered her up in a massive bear hug whispering, "I'm not going anywhere. You won't be able to get rid of me. I'm sorry Lil. I was being stupid that night. I was just so mad that they didn't even look at you, let alone speak to you or say your name. And then they had the nerve to say I shouldn't be friends with you. I'm so sorry Lils, but that's not happening. I'm not losing my best friend and sister because they told me to. They can go fuck themselves" finally releasing her friend and beaming. Laughing and continuing to walk down to the Great Hall, the two girls chatted like they hadn't seen each other for ages, but then again they were best friends and thats what best friends did.

Once the girls were all full, they turned to see how much the boys had left to eat, only to discover them shovelling food into their mouths like they hadn't eaten for years and there was no tomorrow. Blocking out the noise around her, Lily inspected the other House tables, her emerald eyes honing in on Snape who was sat with Mulciber, Avery, Malfoy and Regulus Black. Sidling up to Samantha's side, Lily whispered, "is that Sirius's brother Snape is sat with?" which drew a reluctant nod out of the girl who slid closer, "yeah, Regulus. He's following the Black family tradition apparently. You know how Sirius has run away from home?" which got the required nod, "well he admitted to James and I that the last straw for him was Regulus going out muggle-baiting. Sirius is the black sheep of his family if you want, or you know the white sheep" trying to lighten the mood. The boys finished inhaling their food shortly after that so together Lily, James, Sirius and Remus walked up together chatting innocently, "so boys when's the next prank? Surely you haven't lost your touch?" Lily implied smirking. In response, the three boys grasped their hearts and gasped but it was Remus who responded, "Lily! You wound us so! How could you imply that? We are the Marau- hey where's Pete guys?" after seeing that the fourth Marauder wasn't with the girls like they thought he was.

Shrugging indifferently, Sirius suggested, "maybe he's off with a bird..." but burst out laughing along with the other two, causing Lily scold, "what's wrong with Peter going to snog someone? He's still a bloke!" putting her hands on her hips mockingly. Pretending to sober up, James mimicked the redheads stance and chuckled, "yea he's a bloke, well done Lil. But he's too shy to go and snog some random bird in a closet and to be perfectly honest, girls aren't interested in him" spurring Sirius into boasting, "not when I'm around anyway... I haven't snogged anyone yet this year, oh merlin! i better change that, or people will think Ive gone soft... HEY MCKINNON, JOIN ME IN A BROOM CLOSET WILL YA?" shouting the last part at the long black haired girl ahead of them. Blushing, Marly turned around and faced Sirius to see if he was, well, serious, and upon seeing he was, nodded shyly after encouraging looks from the other four girls. Smirking slightly, Sirius ran up to Marlene, hoisted her on to his back and sprinted off in the opposite direction with him laughing madly and Marly giggling happily.

Stumbling up to the Tower, James confided in Lily as Remus walked ahead to chat with Sam, Mary and Alice, "Sirius has had this huge crush on McKinnon, but he doesn't think that she likes him that way. This is the first time he's acted on his obsession" smirking slightly. Grinning happily, Lily replied, "well Marlene thinks the same, you know, though she doesn't think that he will actually stay with her. Like have a proper relationship? She doesn't want a fling, but with Sirius' reputation, I guess its kinda easy to think he doesn't want the same as her even if she knew he liked her back. Do you follow?" casually and as if she hadn't told the boy her friends secret. By then, the group had reached the Gryffindor portrait and the others had already headed in and sat down so James nodded before joining Remus, Mary and Alice on the sofa whilst Lily sat opposite Sam on the armchairs.

Over an hour later, Sirius and Marlene returned with swollen lips, messed up hair and large goofy grins and on observing there was only one armchair left where their friends were, Sirius picked up Marlene receiving a loud squeal, sauntered over to the armchair and plopped down so Marlene was sat on his lap. Deciding not to comment on how long they were gone and their current position, the group continued to chat until past 11. After a massive simultaneous yawn from all five girls, the boys sent them to bed and did the same for themselves.

The next week passed quickly with the classes mostly being an overview of what they were learning that year and revising what they had done in the previous ones, homework being given and done by the lake and ending the day sat in the common room chatting. For once, one week had passed without a single prank from the Marauders. Something was up; the tension all around school was getting higher with each day and everyone was watching the boys wearily. And they right to too...

On the second Monday morning, hell was let lose. When everyone arrived at breakfast, building their energy up for the second week of school, some strange signs started showing; first the Marauders beamed at each other and drew their wands, pointing them at the ceiling, second, the enchanted ceiling of the Hall started turning red with gold sparks sprinkled around the expanse of colour, and thirdly, everyone's food started to hover in front of the owners face. Without warning, the plates all slammed into the breakfasters' face and charming each person to change a different colour; yellow for Hufflepuff, blue for Ravenclaw, green for Slytherin and red for Gryffindor.

All was silent for a few moments, until the Slytherins all shouted out as their legs transformed in to those of a pigs and the same with noses, hands and ears. Everyone stared on in amazement, including Dumbledore who had been anticipating the first prank of the year, and burst out laughing, the Marauders even rolling around on the floor with tears leaking from their eyes. Eventually, the professors had managed to calm down the Slytherin's enough so they could re-transfigure them but it didn't work. Calling their attention, Dumbledore asked the Marauders, "very good transfiguration, boys, but how do we return them to normal?" persuading Sirius into announcing, "the Slytherin's have to COMPLIMENT three people from Hufflepuff, three people from Ravenclaw and three people from Gryffindor. When they have done this, they will return to normal. We thought it would increase House unity, sir" effectively putting an even larger twinkle in the old man's eyes.

Once the students had to head to their lessons, Sam stopped each Marauder and gave them all a high 5 and a massive bear hug to congratulate them all on their prank. and to the boys surprise, Lily did the same, even though she thought red clashed horribly with her hair colour, but then again, Lily never was a girly girl. Other than that, the boys only got glares from the Slytherin's and winks from the other three houses. The boys had all received a weeks worth of detention though, which they deemed a success. Only one week into the school year and they had detention already!

**Authors Note: **hey again! Hope you enjoy this chapter and enjoyed chapter 2! I love people that review as it gives my something to work on and helps me improve my writing style. I might be able to publish the next chapter tonight, it depends on how fast I can come up with an idea for the chapter and how fast I type... Anyway PLEASE REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4: Boyfriends and Misery

Two weeks passed in roughly the same routine as the first week; eat, walk to class, sit, do homework and chat together. But now it was the day of the Gryffindor quidditch team tryouts; a Saturday morning. Although there was no class that day, Lily woke up early and then forced the two quidditch players out of their beds and in to the shower, "come on guys! It's the quidditch tryouts today and you two have to be there as you have to secure your places! Now get ready!" receiving a pinched cheek and "oh look at the little girly. It's fine Lil, James knows not to get rid of us, have you seen the rest of the quidditch fans in Gryffindor? Marly and I are the best James will get, don't worry... Oh and Sirius too" from Sammy.

Finally, the girls were all ready and headed down to the common room where they had arranged to meet the boys before heading to breakfast, to find them already there and two of them pacing nervously, James and Sirius. Blocking their paths, Sam strode up to them and declared, "you know Marly and I are super nervous as well?. We aren't pacing are we? And James, mate youre captain, you don't have to try out" winking and lightening the mood at her last sentence. Heading down to breakfast, Lily walked with Marly who burst out, "I can't do this, Lil. I won't get on the team. I know I won't... What if I don't?" tuning to Lily desperately. Evaluating her stressed friend, Lily turned to James, "James?" and once she had the boys attention, carried on, "Marlene, Sirius and Sam have nothing to worry about, do they?" causing the captain to shake his head vehemently, "NO! Of course not! You three are my best players, I would have to be insane to replace you. As long as I have my sanity and my captainship, you three will be on the team forever" looking towards his two beaters and fellow chaser.

Without warning, Sirius, Marlene and Samantha all broke down laughing and when they were asked what was so funny, Sirius replied, "James? Sane? Ha, as if! Not a good argument to use, mate" clapping his best friend on the shoulder. Grumbling, James led the way down to the Hall with the group following, giggling in the girls' cases and guffawing in the boys'. Although Sam seemed confident, when she sat down at the Gryffindor table, she refused to eat anything no matter how much Lily begged, "please, Sammy? Just a little bacon? It can't hurt! Come on jus-" but was cut off with her hand half way to her best friends plate holding a piece of bacon, by the girl shoving her plate away and banging her head down on the table, "I cant do this, I'm going to miss every shot and fall off my broom loads" Samantha sighed.

Jumping over the table, James grabbed his sister by the shoulders, dragged her off the bench and surrounded her in a massive bear hug digging his face into her hair, "Sam, you'll be amazing out there just like you always are! Just because I'm captain this year does not mean that it's going to be tougher. But is not that is it? You think that your parents think you aren't good at quidditch, don't you?" he whispered into her hair, gaining a nod into his chest and her arms tightening around his body, "Sammy, they've never seen you play, how would they know if you're any good or not? My mum and dad have seen you play and they think that you're amazing... Better than me in fact but I think that's their favouritism showing through" a smirk and sarcasm dripping from his voice, "you'll be brilliant out there, I promise" before giving a squeeze and finally letting go.

With renewed confidence, Samantha grabbed Marly's hand and together they skipped out of the Great Hall and down to the pitch. Following suit, James and Sirius started to head down, followed by Remus and Lily and then Alice, Peter and Mary who were discussing N.E.W.T's. Suddenly, Lily turned to Remus and asked, "have they always been that close? Sammy and James?" hesitantly, in reply, Remus murmured, "yeah even when I first saw them, they were hugging like that. I think Sam thought she was going to be sent home because she thought she didn't fit the requirements for any of the houses. But yeah, they've always been that close. Maybe Sam didn't do anything like that in front of you before because of your and James' history. You know, it was quite scary to see you go all red when James wound you up" grinning at the end to show that he was teasing.

As they were walking down together, Lily was discreetly eyeing Remus, she knew that he was hiding something. All four Marauders were. But she believed what Remus was hiding was the biggest. He was quiet, studious even more so than herself, and reserved._ 'No 16 year old boy is like that without a good reason' _the redhead thought stubbornly. Lily was soon broken out of her thoughts once they arrived at the pitch and instead started concentrating on the tryouts. After all this team could snatch the quidditch AND house cup for Gryffindor this year.

Being a gracious caption, at the beginning of the tryouts, he sent all the first years away to the stands or castle reminding them that first years weren't allowed to play quidditch, he then sent the fan clubs for himself and Sirius away and finally he sent all the other house spies away. Chuckling slightly at her black- haired and hazel- eyed friend's exasperation, Lily realised that there were ten people trying out for chaser and seven for keeper. First James did the keeper tryouts by asking one person to go up to each end of the pitch to defend the hoops whilst he and Sam tried to score. Two people saved 9 out of 10 goals each so they were obviously being considered as Lily noticed that the rest of the keeper hopefuls were sent back to the castle but congratulated all the same.

Next was the chaser tryouts. James asked the two potential keepers to go back to the hoops whilst six people (two teams of three) at a time tried to score as many goals as possible against the opposition. Eventually two people were kept back down whilst the rest were sent back to the castle. Everyone, including the fourth year seeker Holly Braxte, the beaters Sirius and Marlene and only Sam for the chasers, were told to go in to a game with the keepers trying out at the same time and the chasers filling in the open spot and James' with Sam playing the opposition in the game.

After half an hour, James 'sonorus'ed his voice to call the group all down from the game. The first keeper, Margery Hayles, saved 10 out of 15 goals whilst the second keeper, Harry Lilgo, saved 4 out of 10 making Hayles the obvious choice for their keeper. The first chaser, Tabby Walker, scored 5 out of the 15 goals she attempted whilst the second chaser, Robert Terrence, scored 6 out of the 10 goals he attempted, making Terrence the new chaser. After discussing this with the secured team, James announced their new players, congratulated them, clapped the rejected on their backs and finally headed off for a shower along with Sirius, Marly, Sam and Holly.

After a half hour, the Gryffindor sixth years finally exited the changing rooms and stumbled over to where their friends were sat in the stands. Lying down on Remus, Lily, Alice and Mary, Samantha mumbled, "night night. Sleepy now. Don't wake till morning" but was woken up by Remus tickling her feet, "fine fine I won't go to sleep.. Yet. What time is it?" she amended. Glancing at her watch, Alice answered, "only 11 in the morning, now get off me" shoving her friend off playfully causing her to land on the stands floor. Picking herself up and brushing herself off indignantly and jokingly, Samantha answered, "11 in the morning? Fine lets go to the library, finish our homework in there, since its clouding over. Come on Remus we shall leave these mean people!" and after linking arms with the teenager, walked off. Giggling, Lily stood and slid over to Sirius, flirtingly, "care to join me, Mr Black?" but was pushed out of the way by Marlene who protested, "OI, I was going to ask him! Honestly Lil, lay off" mockingly but grabbing Sirius' hand.

Latching on to her friends hidden meaning, Lily caught on to the conversation between the black-haired Marauders, "so Padfoot, got the women fighting over you?.. yet again?" James teased good naturally causing Sirius, _or Padfoot... James called him that for some reason_, to reply "always Prongs,my man!" _and again with the strange nicknames_, Lily thought curiously. Choosing a different attack, Lily sashayed over to James and linked their arms, "well Mr. Potter, would you mind walking a sweet little redhead up to the castle, and maybe talking with her please?" grinning up at the surprised bespectacled boy that was at least 10 inches taller than her and looking down at Lily. Coughing deep in his throat, receiving a sly giggle from his sister, James agreed happily, "but of course Miss. Evans, who am I to deny a fair maiden from walking with a partner? Shall we walk and talk?" starting to strut away with Lily on his arm before he had finished his question.

About halfway to the castle, James and Lily were several meters in front of their friends and Lily finally asked what was on her mind since that morning, "you really care about Samantha don't you? Like really care?" receiving an evaluating look from the boy. James stared in front of them where they could see Sam and Remus just entering Hogwarts, "I care about her an awful lot. If it meant saving her life, I would throw myself in front of any curse, no matter what the consequences were. It's basically like we are real siblings, by blood, but were separated at birth, she looks like my mum as well, she has the same eyes. But then again I guess we are distantly related since we are both pure bloods... We grew up together basically so it's like we are each others parents children, if that makes sense? I care for Sammy like I care for the rest of the Marauders, and you and the rest of the girls are right up there as well. I guess I'm just protective but if that means I'm stupid I don't care" smiling bitterly at Lily's dumbstruck expression.

* * *

After James' confession, the red head and black haired boy were closer than ever, spending more time together talking than they did before. But soon enough it was shown that James was only her friend, and so boys started making advances on Lily again, no longer scared that James was going to hex them. First it was a seventh year Hufflepuff and prefect called Danny Turner who approached Lily with a bunch of lilies and asked, "hey Lily, do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me, on the weekend, in two weeks? On a date? but Lily shot him down gently, "sorry Danny, I am going with the girls that weekend, Christmas shopping, you know? Sorry" and walked off before the Hufflepuff could reply. The next day it was a Slytherin first year that the redhead tutored in charms, "miss Lily? Would you like to go to the village with me?" but Lily reminded him, "sorry little guy, but first years can't go to Hogsmeade" and turned back to her breakfast with the other Gryffindor sixth years. By the end of the week, the group were completely fed up with Lily being asked out, so much that Remus, of all people, suggested, "hey James, act like you fancy her will you? Flirt with her, hex people that ask her out, just anything? Please Prongs? I'm begging you" actually getting down on his knees and was joined by Peter, Sirius, Marly and Samantha.

Glancing at the redhead who looked utterly dejected, staring at the table whilst pushing her food around the plate with a fork, James asked, "what do you think, Lils? Do you want me to act like I did before to stop people asking you out?" repeating what the others had asked him since he had a suspicion that she hadnt been listening to them. Perking up her head to look over James' shoulder, Lily replied, "thanks for the offer but that would be weird seeing as you're one of my best friends and everyone knows that... Plus I have an idea" and with that Lily stood and walked purposely over to a Ravenclaw seventh year, Terrence Woods, who was on his way over to Lily. When she got to the boy, Lily started acting all shy and girly, even adding in a hair flip, before chatting with Terrence about his position of a chaser on the Ravenclaw quidditch team hoping he would ask her out in front of everyone. Lily's wish came true not even a minute later and she eagerly replied a loud, "yes!" before leaning up to place a feather light kiss on the stunned boys lips. After smiling dazzlingly, Lily skipped back to the group, grabbed her bag and flounced out of the Great Hall to her Transfiguration class. Instantly, Sam lugged her bag on to her shoulder, offered James a sympathetic smile which he ignored and chased after her impulsive best friend.

Once she had caught up to Lily, Sam commenced walking normally so it appeared like nothing was wrong to passer-by's, "so, Lils, Terrence, huh? Good- looking, clever, witty, a seventh year, romantic; what's not to go for? Of course you fell for the charm, didn't you?" causing the redhead to sigh. Remaining silent the rest of the way to class, Lily finally answered to the incessant nudging in her side from Sam, "yes I'm going out with someone now. Yes it's a seventh year. And yes I know it was impulsive but it will stop people asking me out all the time. What's wrong with that?" fascinating her friend into silence. It was at that moment that everyone showed up, James with his head ducked so no one could see his defeated expression although Sam could basically feel the emotion radiating off the tall boy, and so everyone filed into the classroom.

Once the lesson was properly underway, Sam started passing notes with all her friends that were sat near her...

_Sam _Lily **Marlene** _**Mary**_ James _**Sirius**_ _Remus_ **Peter**

_so, Lils, what were you going to say before?_

nothing, Sammy, leave it alone

_no. You know why? Because he's your first boyfriend in what, 3 years?!_

Yes I know, Sam! But he's a sweet guy, he's funny, handsome and a really good quidditch player! Happy now?

**_Hello ladies. Talking about me, Lily? That's not good sounds like you fancy me... Aren't you going out with Terrence though?_**

Sirius! Yes I'm going out with Terrence and no I do not fancy you... If I did, Marlene would rip my head off, would you Marly?

**yes I would, Lil, no matter how much I love you, I fancy Sirius...**

**_what? You fancy me?_**

**shit shit shit**

_**James am I dreaming?**_

no mate, perfectly awake

**_wow_**

_yeah, go get her Padfoot _

**_will do Moony, Marlene?_**

**yes, Sirius... Dammit I'm an idiot **

**_yes you are Marly_**

**shut up Mary **

**sorry**

**_um hello _**

**_sorry carry on_**

**_Marlene will you be my girlfriend?_**

**yes! **

_well done you two... Save the snogging for later though _

**Yeah I agree with Moony **

well done Marly... No way are we double dating though

**_wasn't an option in the first place Lily-kins_**

what did you just call me Sirius?!

**_um Lily?_**

well done, idiot

um well done, guys, but I'm going to go and focus now, you know anamgi is a difficult and interesting subject... Bye

**Lily you broke him **

what how was it me?!

**_you'll never learn..._**

**Authors Note: **well hey again guys! I managed to upload this new chapter today like I promised... Wow, that makes 2 chapters a day since Ive published this story... I get the computer back tomorrow but it needs setting up so I may or may not get a chapter up tomorrow, so if I dont Im sorry, but on tuesday its a definite no as im going somewhere on the opposite side of the country... it turns out the underline thing didnt work with the notes so it goes Sam, Lily, Sam,Lily, Sirius, Lily, Marlene, Sirius, Marlene, Sirius, James, Sirius, Remus, Sirius, Marlene, Mary, Marlene, Mary, Sirius, MAry, Sirius, Marlene, Remus, Peter, Lily, Sirius, Lily, Sirius, Lily, James, Peter, Lily and finally Sirius. sorry for the confusion! Anyway since I love you so much... REVIEW IF YOU LOVE ICE CREAM AND COOKIES!


	5. Chapter 5: Animals and Breakfast Fights

Several weeks passed, including the Hogsmeade visit, and Lily and Terrence's relationship was getting even stronger with each passing day, resulting in James becoming downcast whenever the two were together around him.

One day after quidditch practise, Sirius and Marlene had left quickly to have some "alone time" as Sirius had called it, although James suspected it involved a broom closet, so together James and Sam headed up alone with the girl slightly in front. When they were in the the corridor around the corner from the common room, Sam peeked around the corner only to see her best friend and her boyfriend snogging against the wall near the door they needed to pass through. Pivoting around quickly and smacking into her brothers chest, Sam ordered, "turn around, James, we aren't going that way. In fact we aren't going back to the common room for a while. So turn around, I want a piggy back" before actually spinning James to face the other way and jumping on his back agilely. Automatically moving his arms to catch Sam's legs, James started to walk towards the common room asking, "come on, there's not going to be any Slyth-" but was cut off in surprise as Sam stuck her hands over the boy's glasses and therefore rendered him blind. Growling into her brothers ears, Samantha forced his body to walk in the other direction, "they're snogging, James. Do you really want to see that? I know that you claim not to be in love with her any more, but that's not true and I can see right through the lie. You haven't seen them kissing before and a hug is too much for you to cope with. We are not going back yet" causing the boy to stop dead, walk to where he thought the nearest wall was and try to bang his forehead against the stone. Faster than lightening, Sam moved her hands from James' eyes to his forehead to stop the boy from hurting himself, "what am I doing wrong, Sam? You're her best friend, please what doesn't she like about me?" James murmured pleadingly.

Evaluating the boy who was effectively carrying all her weight as if she was a quill, Sam replied, "nothing, James. You're being a best friend aren't you? Therefore she can't hate you. She just doesn't love you like you do for her. James if you're patient, she might fall in love with you eventually. Trust me, I'm your sister as well as hers and you are, in effect, everything shes ever wanted in a guy, but she doesn't see it yet. It might take a year or two, but you will get there, I promise. Now lets go to the room of requirement, we can relax there" causing the boy to sigh heavily. After heaving himself away from the wall, James started to make his way to the seventh floor in the left corridor of the Hogwarts castle where a hidden entrance was found opposite the tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach trolls ballet.

After arriving at the RoR, James traced the hallway three times, forgetting his sister was on his back and resting her chin on his shoulder, and entered the room to find a replica of the Gryffindor common room but only with two large sofas instead of a few little ones around a roaring fire. Remembering his sister, James walked sluggishly over to one of the sofas and gently dropped Samantha on to it, noticing she was half asleep which was typical of her since it was 9 in the evening and she had put more effort into practise than normal, and pulled out his two-way mirror that connected with Sirius'. Falling on to the second sofa, James called Sirius, "oi, Sirius, mate! Pick up!" and when the stormy- eyed boy's face showed up in the mirror, James asked, "do you want to join me and Sam in the Room of Requirement? Bring Remus and Pete if you want" but only received a confused look in return. Once Sirius had finished examining his friends face, he responded, "OK. You have to tell me why you're there when I arrive though, promise?" and when James nodded, Sirius hung up.

A few minutes later, Sirius and Remus turned up at the RoR and sauntered in casually, and whilst Remus carried on walking to the sofa where Sam was lying down drifting off, Sirius plopped unceremoniously down next to James, "so mate, why are we here and not in the common room?" to which James replied after watching Remus persuade Sam to lift her head up so he could sit down and her rest her head on his legs again, "Lily and Woods were snogging outside the common room a minute ago. Sam saw and made me come here. She's too shattered so I didn't argue and so here we are. I didn't want to have you guys go back to the dorm and wonder where I was" hesitantly chancing a glance at his best mates face. A few moments passed silently only filled with the boys quiet breath and Sam's slower and heavier ones that showed she was asleep, until Remus asked James, "so Sam told you to come here? I guess she had a point, you would probably try and kill Woods if you actually saw them" and all three boys were stunned into listening when Sam replied, "of course I had a point, I'm Samantha Smith!" even though she was still asleep.

Grinning madly, James asked, "Sammy, are you awake?" which got a sleepy, "I don't think so" confusing Sirius and Remus even further. Noticing his friends befuddled expressions, James hastily explained, "when Sammy is really tired, when she goes to sleep her brain stays awake. So when you talk about her or ask her a question while she's around, her brain will think of a response and because shes fast asleep, she can't stop her mouth from saying it. So basically you get to find out what Sam is really thinking to what you say... she only does it around people who she recognises the voice of and if she trusts them. When mum and dad took her to a healer to see why she did it, he asked her loads of questions but she didn't reply but when mum, dad and I asked her she spoke loads" receiving amused looks from the other two boys. After a moment, Sirius smirked triumphantly and turned to face Sam, "so Sammy, who is the best Marauder?" gathering a response of, "me, of course! You told me a while ago that I was a true Marauder so that makes me one and I'm the best" cockily from the sleeping person. Chuckling James asked, "OK, Sammy, who would make the best boyfriend out of Sirius, Remus and me?"

"it's Sirius, Remus and I, honestly James! Um well Sirius has the looks that people want, the bad-ass attitude that girls usually fall for and the sensitive side that he rarely shows to people. But Sirius can be cruel sometimes especially when he's angry and all that and sometimes flirts too much but thats probably me being a sister. James has the looks as well, the protectiveness and playfulness that girls love and the caring and mushy side that he shows when he wants to. But he can be too protective sometimes and is trying to steal Lily away from me when she is mine and mine only so he should back off. And Remus is sensitive, quiet and smart, he's also protective of the people he loves and is a Marauder and everything that comes with the title. But Remus thinks that he isn't good enough for people because he's a werewolf and so he doesn't ask anyone out. I think it depends on a persons taste in men..." Samantha replied easily still asleep. Once the girl had mentioned that she knew Remus was a werewolf, the three boys instantly tensed up, wondering why she had never mentioned it before. Hesitantly, Remus ventured, "and you don't care that I'm a werewolf?"

As she replied, Sammy snuggled closer into the boys lap, "of course not. Remus is still the same person and just because he's not himself once a month, doesn't mean he's any less of a person than I am... probably more actually" her voice slightly muffled by the werewolf's jeans. Smiling slightly, Remus stated, "Sam, I'm going to pick you up for a second so I can lie down, is that alright?" extracting a nod from the sleeping girl. Once Remus had followed through on what he had said, the couch became longer and Samantha slid down so her head rested on the werewolf's chest and went still again.

After a few minutes, Sirius finally spoke up, "well I knew she was brilliant but I didn't expect this from her. I mean I thought we were the only ones that knew and didn't care... No offence Moony but I'm not doing what Sam's doing now..." smirking at the boy who was still staring down at the brunette and playing absent-mindedly with her hair. Quietly, Sam mused, "Moony? Thats Remus. And apparently Sirius is Padfoot, James is Prongs and Peter is Wormtail. And they always disappear with Remus when he has to go to transform and come back in the morning covered in cuts and bruises and really really tired. I'll figure out what they do soon enough. I mean it wont be hard. I wont be mad though, they'll be beating themselves up for being too obvious or whatever. I'm not dumb!" trailing off uncertainly. Slightly scared, James, Sirius and Remus all stopped smirking at each other and glanced between themselves and their sister cautiously, eventually Sirius ventured, "Sam are you awake?" getting a honest answer of "yea, well nearly anyway" from the stirring brunette.

Soon enough, Sam woke up to find the boys staring wearily at her, "what did I say this time? Honestly, what did I say?" she asked panicking. After glancing at Remus, silently asking for permission and receiving a subtle nod in return, James stated, "you admitted you knew Remus was a werewolf and how you knew that Sirius, Peter and I helped him in some way" getting a small duck of the head and smile playing at her lips in admittance. Once it was made clear that they weren't going to come clear willingly, Samantha demanded, "so do you three go with Remus?" a small nod from the three boys with her, "how? If a werewolf bits a human then they turn into a werewolf as well... no offence Remus" gathering a whispered, "none taken" from the boy.

Evaluating his sister carefully and deciding that even in her sleep she wouldn't be mad and she was telling the truth, James stood carefully from the sofa and walked to a large clear space before speaking, "Sammy, you have to promise not to be mad, ok? Well, we're anamgi. Thats how we accompany Remus for his transformations. Well um yeah..." stunning her sister in to a surprised silence. Soon enough she jerked from her trance, and tiptoed over to the standing boy being watched carefully by all three people, "James I'm not mad... why would I be? I mean I love you all too much... um can I see?" dragging the boys attention to her question instead of what she admitted. A second later, Sirius had appeared out of thin air next to James and Remus had grabbed Sam's wrist muttering, "step back a minute, they are quite large" smirking devilishly, causing the intrigued girl to follow instructions timidly.

Samantha watched as the two Marauders closed their eyes tightly, a look of pure concentration coming over their faces, and as they morphed into a stag in James' case and a large black dog in Sirius'. It was a gradual process. With James the antlers slowly pushed through his mop of messy black hair, his hands and feet slowly growing smaller and thicker finally turning into the shape of hooves and then as his body sprouted pitch black fur, the same colour of the boys hair, as it changed into the shape of a deer. In Sirius's case he shrunk slightly as black fur shot out of his body and ears protruded from where his real ones would be, his body finally snapping into that of a dogs. Together the stag and dog's front legs fell to the floor so they were standing on all fours rather than their hind legs.

Nervously, Sam slipped her hand out of Remus' and stepped towards James and Sirius who were inspecting her reaction carefully and stood in between the two of them. A second later, Samantha broke into an ear splitting grin, whispering, "hey guys? You know you look really awesome right?" before jumping forward catching the animals off guard and started ruffling their fur, knowing they would hate it (Sirius especially) as it would mess up their hair. Without warning, Sirius jumped at Sam, effectively knocking her over backwards and started licking her face in revenge, raising a giggled and high-pitched, "SIRIUS! stop it Sirius, that tickles, Sirius!" but only resulted in motivating Padfoot to lick her even more. Seeing as her eyes were closed from trying to keep the tears from the laughter in, it was a surprise when James used his antlers to pick her up and out of Padfoot's reach and hoisted her onto the sofa. Finally released from Sirius's relentless tickling, Sam opened her eyes to find a stag, dog and Remus staring down at her grinning madly (it was even scarier than normal with James and Sirius seeing as they were animals) and grinned back instantly, "why did you guys think I would be mad?" causing Remus to proclaim, "they're not registered so it's against the law... and the fact that they're under age so they wouldn't be allowed to do it even if they did register" causing Samantha to shake her head fondly.

The rest of the night was spent with James and Sirius staying in the animagus forms and Remus and Sam testing how well Padfoot could use his nose to find things and Prongs to see how much he could lift at once, he even lifted Sam and Remus onto his back before shaking them off. Eventually, Sam started drifting off again, surrounded by her favourite people in the world; Padfoot supporting her head by his own demand, Prongs resting his head on her virtually flat stomach and Remus lying with his legs above Sam and resting on Prongs' back.

* * *

When her best friend hadn't returned from quidditch practise, Lily started panicking. Pure and utter panic. She searched the whole castle, including the kitchens, grounds and the pitch to see if they had extended practise for a few extra hours. Soon enough, Lily reasoned that Sam couldnt be in too much trouble seeing as she was a pureblood and everyone knew she was protected by the Marauders. But that didn't stop the redhead from being worried yet furious for her friend but thought it would be best to sleep on it.

In the morning, Lily woke up as usual, did her typical routine and then remembered her friend had never returned from the night before, deciding she would see if Sam turned up for breakfast, Lily stormed down to there Great Hall. A few minutes passed with Lily staring adamantly at the entrance to the Hall looking out dangerously until her friend walked in, and finally rose from her seat and thundered over to the girl and the Marauders dangerously, causing the girl to back a way slowly holding her hands up in surrender. Motioning for Sam, James, Sirius and Remus to follow her, Lily left the Hall for a more secluded place such as the abandoned corridor on the third floor, she then spun around to confront her best friend, "where in Merlin's name, have you been? You never returned from quidditch practise so I scouted the whole castle and grounds for you! And then you turn up in the Hall acting as if everything is fine! Honestly Sam do you expect me not to worry! You're my best friend for Merlin's left ball! What happened?" shouting at first but then whispering at the end with tears flooding her eyes and started to overflow.

Giving the boys a helpless stare and receiving shocked and disgruntled expressions in response, Samantha stepped forward to give the redhead a huge bear hug and apologise, "I'm so sorry Lils! I never even thought that you would be worried about me. It's just when James and I were walking back to the common room, we saw you and Terrence kissing outside the portrait so I forced James to turn around and head to the Room of Requirement and we fell asleep when the other two idiots arrived! I'm so sorry hun, I didn't mean to worry you" tightening her hold on Lily as she spoke. Glancing over Sam's shoulder, Lily noticed the uncomfortable looks on the black haired boys and murmured, "I'm sorry as well. You're a brilliant witch and even if you were cornered then you could handle them! Lets head to breakfast, feed these growing boys!" before spinning out of her friends embrace, linking arms with said best friend and Remus who linked arms with James and Sam joined with Sirius.

Once they arrived at the Great Hall, only 10 minutes had passed but to the group it felt like at least half an hour. Regardless, the group joined Peter, Alice, Mary and Marlene and started eating, at least until Lily scooped some grapes onto her spoon and flung them at Samantha. It would have hit the target if she had not seen it and ducked just before it hit her, '_because of quidditch reflexes! I would have bloody well got my revenge'! _Lily thought put out. Unfortunately at that moment the grapes hit Sirius in the temple causing him to turn slowly around on the bench to face the redhead, "what did you just throw at me, Evans?" starting off in a low and dangerous voice but as he went on a smile crept sneakily onto his face and voice. Sinking back into her seat and ignoring Sam's giggling and smirk that was identical, Lily murmured, "I'm so sorry Sirius! Wait- Siri-" but was cut off by him chucking a jug of pumpkin juice of her head.

The whole Hall fell into silence as the redhead processed what had just happened, so going unnoticed Sam and James exchanged devious looks. As James grabbed the milk and Sam grabbed the butter and a knife, Lily snapped out of her anger- induced trance, snatched the strawberries, crushed them in her hand and swiped them all over Sirius's hair just as James and Sirius did the same with their items. It was this that broke the Hall out of its silence and encouraged them all to break into a massive food fight. At first, it was friends against friends but soon enough it progressed to Houses against Houses, causing the sixth year Gryffindors to build a little fort on their table with their wands and fire items from there.

It took an hour for the Professors to calm everyone down, tidy up the Great Hall and usher people to their second lesson as the food fight had taken up all of breakfast and first lesson. On their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts, Sirius, James, Lily and Samantha were caught up by a irritated looking McGonagall, "you four! Detention for 3 weeks! For starting a food fight, Black" answering Sirius' outraged glare, "report to my office tomorrow night after dinner... All of you!" and stormed back towards her office. Laughing all the way back to their classroom, the group all chatted about the highlights of the fight before entering the room to face a very angry looking Professor Gray.

Later that day, once everyone had retreated to the common room after classes, Lily stormed in extremely angry, strode over to the group and jumped onto an armchair before staring moodily into the fire. Breaking the awkward silence that had arrived when Lily did, Sam asked hesitantly, "um Lils? What happened? Slytherins?" causing the redhead to growl still looking into the fire, "no. Terrence. He had a go at me because I started the food fight. Says its immature and irresponsible and I should know better! Can you believe it! I'm a bloody Gryffindor, of course I'm going to retaliate! Just...!" and stormed off to her dormitory. Glancing uneasily at the staircase, Sirius muttered, "redheads and their tempers" begrudgingly

**Authors Note: **Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter! Here's the deal right... the next nine people who review my story can design a character for me to include in my story! The characters can be in any house and year but no more Gryffindor Sixth years please? Anyway all you need to do is review! I probably wont be able to update till next weekend as I'm on holiday tomorrow and when I get back its school! Anyway REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Love you!


	6. Chapter 6: Childhood Friends and Winning

It was one week later and it was the first quidditch game of the season; Slytherin and Gryffindor. On the morning of the game, as always, Sam and Marlene had woken up at about 5am to get showered, dressed, don their quidditch robes and head down to the common room to wait for James and Sirius. However, like normal people, Lily, Alice and Mary woke at 7am, showered, dressed in warm clothes and headed down to the Great Hall. Typically, they found their four friends huddled together, stuffing their faces so they wouldn't get hungry later, therefore the three girls sat quietly next to the chasers and beaters waiting until Remus and Peter arrived so they could have a decent conversation.

About half an hour later, James stood determinedly and hollered to Gryffindor, "Team down to the changing rooms! Go, go Gryffindor!" receiving a chanted, "Go, go Gryffindor!" from his house like every captain did for each Quidditch game. Lily watched happily as her friends and the rest of the team headed down to the Pitch before turning to Remus, "so how scared is James that he is going to muck it up? On a scale of 1- 10 with 10 as extremely and 1 as not at all?" getting 10 fingers from Remus and 5 from Peter. Confused, Lily quizzed, "do you mean 15 or some-" but was cut off by McGonagall, "Miss Evans. Please come with me" and walked away. Cautiously, Lily avoided everyone's stunned gazes, followed the Professor to her office and walked in before lifting her head to find a girl with short coal black hair and startling blue eyes, walking curiously around the office. Realising that she had company, the girl turned her head to the door and smiled blindingly, silently persuading McGonagall into saying, "Lily, this is Gracie Gellen. She has transferred from Beauxbatons and is in your house and year. Her bed has already been added to the dorm and her belongings taken up. Gracie this is Lily Evans, you will be sharing a dormitory. Lily please take Gracie here down to the Pitch! Lets hope Gryffindor win shall we?" before ushering the two out of her office quickly.

On the way down to the pitch, Lily and Gracie were chatting happily until they met up with the rest of the gang where Lily introduced them all and carried on to get good seats in the Gryffindor stands. Throughout the game, every time James and Samantha were mentioned, Lily noticed a strange look pass over Gracie's face causing the redhead to quiz loudly to be heard, "are you ok, Grace? You seem confused?" causing the black haired girl to shout back, "no I'm fine... just... Is it James Potter and Samantha Smith they keep talking about on our team?" stepping closer to Lily to be heard even easier. Slightly curious, Lily responded, "yeah it is? Sam is in our dorm and James is in the male counterpart to us of Gryffindor! Why?" raising a giggle from the girl and a, "I'll tell you later" before focusing her attention on the game, grinning.

Three hours later, the Gryffindor seeker caught the snitch by a quill's length, meaning Gryffindor won 390- 120 and thrashed Slytherin. Deciding they would congratulate their friends later, Lily, Mary, Alice, Grace and Frank headed up to the common room whilst Remus and Peter headed to Hogsmeade to get food and drink. During their walk, Gracie randomly said, "I grew up around James and Sam when I was little. But when we were all 10, my parents who work for the Ministry, had been transferred to the French equivalent. They needed help you see, but they soon straightened themselves out and we were able to come back. When I had told James and Sam that I was moving out of the country, they got really mad and upset at the same time and started getting really frustrated with my parents and the Ministry. I mean we had spent all our lives together and that was ripped from all of us in a mere month! But anyway I'm back now... I just hope that they still like me..." going through with her promise at the game. A minute passed in silence as Lily processed the new information, but then the redhead gently spoke up, "you know when we first started here, Sammy just couldn't stop talking how unfair something was. When I asked her what was wrong, she explained that her best friend from home had moved away and how they had planned to come to Hogwarts together. She was really upset. And James. It was horrible watching them so down-hearted and discouraged. Sam was worse for me as we were best friends as soon as we met on the train but I didn't really know James that much, all I knew was that he and Sammy were really close. Anyway you have no idea how happy they'll be to see you" dragging a beam onto Gracie's face.

About half an hour later, the Gryffindor quidditch team barged through the portrait effectively causing everyone to cheer loudly, some even wolf whistling at the girls on the team as they passed. Soon enough, the Gryffindor sixth years had found each other and had migrated to a secluded corner and sat around the large table there. Ignoring the suspicious looks that James and Samantha were giving Gracie, Sirius asked cautiously, "so um, you're new... who are you? And what year?" towards Gracie. Smirking slightly at the redhead next to her, the girl replied, "I'm in your year, well sixth. I've just transferred here from another school because my parents weren't needed anymore and thats the whole reason we moved. I was meant to come here, to Hogwarts, originally. And I'm Grace Gellen." causing James' jaw to drop open in surprise and Samantha to go shock still and not blink for several moments. Eventually, Remus cleared his throat and shook Grace's hand, "hi, I'm Remus Lupin. I'm a sixth year as well and part of the Marauders along with James, Sirius and Peter." pointing to each boy as he said their name, "glad to meet you. I hope you like it here." sitting down in his seat when he was finished. At that movement from the werewolf, James snapped back out of his daze. Within a split second, James had appeared on Gracie's side of the table and lifted her out of her seat, into the air, laughing madly, "GRACIE! Why are you here? You're supposed to be at Beauxbatons, you're supposed to be in France!" putting Grace into a laughing fit. A second later, Samantha had joined in on the bone- crushing hug and was also giggling, "Grace! I missed you so much! But seriously why are you here?" causing James to drop Grace and stand next to Sam in front of their friend.

Feeling everyone's eyes on her, Grace mumbled, "well um, mum and dad were moved back here. They weren't needed there anymore. They hardly even did anything. I left for nothing... I hope you guys can forgive me? I mean, I missed you two so much" gaining an obnoxious laugh from Marlene, "have you heard how much they missed you? They wouldn't shut up in first year! Anyway I'm Marlene McKinnon... but for the love of Merlin, _please_ call me Marly!" rising to hug her new dorm mate. A few minutes later, Mary had introduced herself, "Merlin's beard, tell me you don't snore like Alice and Marly?!", Alice had acquainted, "ignore Mary, she's joking... I hope! Anyways I'm Alice Prewitt", and finally everyone had started chatting about life in France and Beauxbatons compared to that of in England and at Hogwarts.

Three hours passed and eventually the common room had emptied apart from a few passed out fourth years, so the sixth years migrated to the couches in front of the fire before throwing around suggestions of what they could play.

"what about Twister?" Lily suggested after a while.

"what the hell is Twister, Evans?" Sirius demanded.

"its a muggle game, its basically this massive plastic sheet with a row of red circles, a row of yellow circles, a row of green circles and a row of blue circles and you have this spinny thing. Basically you have to put your hand or foot on the right colour when you're told and have to try to stay up"

"um thats easy... are you saying that because we are all slightly tipsy that we couldnt pull that off?"

"no Sirius. There are other people as well. You start knotting together after a while"

"yeah lets do that!" James chimed up, "that sounds like loads of fun, Pads, especially as we are drunk!"

After a few tries, Lily finally conjured the game and set it out whilst everyone cleared up any bottles and glasses so they had enough space to play. Soon enough, Peter had been designated as the spinner and the game had began.

Half an hour later, Mary, Marly and Alice were all out of the game leaving Remus, Grace, Sirius, Sam, James and Lily still playing even though it looked like they were all going to fall over seeing as they were all in the middle of the mat and literally in a knot. "James, right hand on green" Peter said causing the boy to groan, "urg! Slytherin colour!" but complied anyway. "Lils, right foot on yellow", "Moony, left hand on green!", "Padfoot, right foot on red" Peter commanded from his position sat on the hearth in front of the roaring fire. It was now around half one on the Sunday morning but the group were still going strong at the game that had lasted for four hours already. At least until Sirius fell. It was like dominoes; Sirius fell on top of Remus who tipped sideways into Lily, who collapsed onto Grace. Once the dominoes had all fallen and evacuated the mat, it was clear that James and Sam were the only two left, "OK, Sam left foot on blue" causing the girl to carefully pick her foot up and gently move it over, "Prongs,... left hand on blue" and again, James moved carefully, painstakingly aware that he was wobbling.

Focusing his entire attention on the two purebloods, Peter stared up from the spinner just in time to witness James knocking into Samantha who cheered, "YES! James fell on to me! That means I win! And James loses!" before pushing the disgruntled Gryffindor off of her and doing a mini victory dance around the room. Standing up and brushing himself off as though he was dirty, James said, "yeah, well, at least I was second. Not like Sirius. Who fell first and fast. Obviously" speaking in short sentences to annoy the boy even more. Breaking up the inevitable drunken argument, Lily rose and said , "well seeing as it's Sunday and we need to show Gracie around tomorrow, I mean today, why don't we all go to bed now? That way we can be well rested, awake enough for later and sleep off our drunkenness!" causing everyone to murmur their agreement and head off to their dorms.

The next day, Lily woke early to the brightness of the sun shining through the open curtains, _'damn, Sammy probably forgot to close the curtains. So last night... why don't I remember anything? Merlin's left ball, did I get drunk? Actually that isn't that surprising seeing as who I'm friends with. So quidditch match yesterday, we won that I remember. Something else happened as well. But what?'_, Lily reflected as she threw off her covers and entered the bathroom, not noticing the sixth bed.

Half an hour later, Lily re-emerged from the wet-room, only to discover all her friends sluggishly raising the top half of their bodies to rest against their pillows, and then to find one more bed than normal. Lily stared. _'there are only five girls in here. Why is there a new bed? Why is there a body in that bed? Oh mother of Circe, Morgana and Merlin, please tell me Sirius didn't knock some weird bird up from Hogsmeade and they have to stay here?!' _Lily thought frantically.

To answer the turmoil that she knew was happening in her friends head, Alice said, "Lils, you many not remember" but was interrupted by Mary, "oh shut the fuck up, Alice! Of course she doesn't fucking remember! We are all so bloody pissed last night no one would have noticed if someone shat in their faces!" grumpily still hung-over. Casting the blonde girl a dark look, Alice carried on, "anyway, Lily, we have a new girl in here. Her name is Gr-" but was cut off by the new-comer, "yep, I'm Grace Gellen, but you can call me Gracie! You met me yesterday after breakfast and we went down to the match together. We played Twister last night and you collapsed onto me causing us to lose. In the end, Sammy won... ring any bells?" smiling kindly. Nodding her head confused, Lily said, "yeah it does a little. Thanks for reminding me, Gracie. I think I can recall meeting you now... you grew up with Sammy and James didn't you?". Clearing her throat meaningfully, Samantha proclaimed, "yea, she did, Lil. Thanks for acting like I'm not here" winking at everyone.

About an hour later, everyone was dressed and was heading down to the Great Hall for a late breakfast with lots of coffee for their hangovers when Marly pulled Lily over into an abandoned classroom. Making sure no-one was around, Marly confessed to the redhead, "Lils. I can't do this anymore. Being Sirius' girlfriend. I keep thinking he is just going to abandon me and everything. What with his reputation, you know? I like him and all but I think that might be because he is a good snog. I don't want to be a girlfriend anymore, Lils!" frantically. Roving her eyes over her friends face, Lily said, "then tell him. It sounds like you want to stay with him for the kissing, don't look like that its perfectly acceptable at our age, but not as a girlfriend... have you met Sirius Black? Obviously; you're dating. But anyways, I think he wants the same thing. He just wants to mess around with girls like you do with boys." calmly still eyeing her friend suspiciously. A few moments passed where Marlene thought over what her friend had said, finally the black- haired girl decided, "I'm going to dump him. Today. It will be best. I'll explain the situation to him and see what he thinks. Like you said he might agree. Anyway... how are you and Terrence? We haven't had a proper girl talk for ages! At least not since the beginning of the year!" definitively.

Completely missing breakfast altogether, Lily explained how her relationship wasn't going to plan and she was thinking that maybe it wasn't the best decision she had made this year. She also explained how she might end it soon; she was just going to give it to the beginning of December so about a month, until she gave the matter more thought. Soon enough, the other eight Gryffindors came searching for the two girls, finding them lying on massive beanbags they had conjured in the classroom, joining them the girls fell easily into their conversation about anything and everything that was considered girly. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily noticed the boys leaving out of the door muttering about having a guy catchup as well along with some quality time with some butterbeer and chocolate, sighing Lily immersed herself back into her conversation.

Sneaking down to the kitchens at lunchtime, the girls all finished up their conversation before eating and heading back up to their dorm, avoiding the boys mind you, to complete their homework from the week.

Eventually it was dinnertime, and the girls had brought their homework to a close, so deciding they had better go and meet everyone else for dinner, the group all filed down the stairs before glimpsing the boys lounging on the sofas. Smirking deviously at each other, the girls silently decided to creep the boys out, so they enlisted Lily to disillusion them, sneaked over to the boys, and started whispering, "boys, we are going to get you when you sleep. We are going to get you when you are in class, eating or in the shower. We will always get you and you won't be able to escape. Never!" into their ears. Glancing around them wearily, the boys motioned towards the portrait hole and followed Peter out into the corridor, _'oh how naïve! Don't even know its us!' _ Lily boasted in her head whilst tailing the others.

However when the redhead let the portrait fall shut, Lily discovered a battle scene. The girls had been caught unawares when coming out of the common room and the boys had reversed the spell, effectively throwing everyone into a giant prank war. Everywhere she looked, there was mayhem. James was conjuring balloons full of goo and charming them to follow Grace and Samantha, Sirius was conjuring little birds to distract Mary by flying around her head, Remus was jinxing Marlene and Alice to think they were Slytherins and causing them to turn on each other, and Peter was charming the floor around each girl to grow vines and tangle all around them. After assessing the damage the boys were causing, Lily moved onto the girls; Marlene was cursing Remus to slap himself continuously and to do some Irish dancing, Mary was charming Sirius' hair and nose to grow down to the floor, Sam was charming James' hair to flash neon colours and his clothes to morph into a faeries even with the wings, Grace was charming Remus to go younger and older in a split second and Alice was weeding the floor whilst tripping up each boy with jinxes.

All in all, this scene could merit 3 terms worth of detentions because of all the damage they were causing to the floor and ceilings. Shouting at the top of her voice, Lily said, "guys stop it! If we are going to war we cant be so obvious about it! If we are then we will be given detentions all the time and it will ruin the fun! Just stop ok?" gaining the attention and agreement of everyone reluctantly.

And so the war began...

**Authors Note: **Sorry this update took so long! I've had to go back to school and everything so I have to keep up with that, but I've tried really hard to get this out in quick time. Anyway thankyou to everyone that has followed this story or me as an author! Its so amazing to get an email on my iPod saying that I've got a new review or follower but its not that often... would you guys mind reviewing? Just say if you like the story or how I can improve? Just your opinion of this story would be great and I would be your fateful servant! So REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 7: Assaults and Suspensions

Two weeks passed since the war had began and the pranks were endless. Being the hormonal boys that they were, the Marauders charmed the girls' clothes to go see through so their underwear was on display to everyone, they however took the prank in their stride and started flirting shamelessly with all boys of a suitable age. In retaliation, the girls sneaked into the boys dorm and charmed everything to the ceiling; beds, wardrobes, dressers, anything that was in there... including the boys themselves. In the morning the boys woke up to see what they thought to be the door on the ceiling and then five minutes later, realised it was the other way around. The rest of Gryffindor Tower woke up to the angry shouting of the Marauders and out right laughter of the Gryffindor sixth year girls in the common room. Of course there were plenty more pranks and it was serious, but nothing became between the groups friendships; they were still as close as ever and didn't fall out massively.

Lily's relationship with Terrence was still extremely rocky, though. They argued at least once a week and avoided each other for, on average, three days afterwards, they never kissed anymore and never spent any time with each other that wasnt with their friends. Soon enough, Lily and the girls settled down in their dorm and had a proper girly night complete with ice cream, butterbeer and popcorn. After half an hour of gossiping about the Hufflepuff couple, Joan Arty and George Poll, Lily spoke up, "girls? I need to tell you all something?" automatically gaining everyone's attention. Climbing on to her best friends bed, Sam said, "what up, hun?".

"yeah babe, what's bothering you?" Marly piped up.

"Lils, if you don't tell us the full truth we will tell Dumbledore to not let you be Head Girl and I'm not bluffing" Alice promised.

"Well um you guys know how Terrence and I haven't really been getting on recently or spent any time alone for that matter. I don't think I can handle it anymore. I mean not until December! That's two whole weeks away and we argue so much it's just wrong. I only went out with him to stop people asking me out, you know? Yeah he is a nice guy, yeah he's a good lucking bloke and yes I know he is in Ravenclaw so he's smart but... I don't like him. At all. Not if these few months have been anything to go by anyway. What do you four think I should do?" Lily asked hesitantly, afraid of her friends reactions.

After a few minutes of consideration, Sam suggested, "why don't you just break it off? I mean if you don't feel comfortable with it then it isn't the best thing to do. And don't say that you don't want to hurt the bloke because if you think that, then he will too! If you want him to dump you instead thats fine, wait a week or two...".

"but... I see your point, Sammy. I'll do it tomorrow"

"I get what you mean, Lil, I had it with Frank. Of course, I didn't dump him but that was because I actually love him you know? And we didn't argue as bad as you two... I honestly don't see you two growing old together, really" Alice mused.

"It's fine, Lily. I mean, I'm surprised you kept him this long with how you two have been. I just thought you would go to Hogsmeade and we wouldn't be bothered by him afterwards. I agree with Alice; I don't see you growing old with him" Mary put her two knuts in.

"I third what Alice said. Do what ever makes you feel better, Lils." Marly said.

"Lils, you know Terrence's best mate, Louis Roberts?" Sam approached.

"Yeah, Sammy, why?"

"Why, Sam?"

"Lou, he's a nice bloke, isn't he? But why Samantha?"

"What's the Ravenclaw got to do with this, Sam?"

"That's the thing guys. I know that you don't like Terrence now, Lils, but when you two were going strong and we hung out with his friends for a few times, I realised Louis isn't that bad of a guy. Then when I've been studying in the library, he's been there a few times and we've chatted loads and everything..."

"you fancy him, don't you, Sammy?"

"yeah. I do. Please don't be mad, Lil, I know that you're going to break up with Louis' best mate, but I really fancy him and I'm not just saying that. You know I haven't actually fancied someone since third year! I know that I've snogged my fair share of guys in my time, ok, maybe nearly half of Hogwarts male population, but I'm actually serious about this guy! I'm sorry guys" Samantha whispered, ashamedly staring down at her pyjama bottoms.

Silence passed as the girls mulled over the brunettes confession and thought over what she had said about how she was sorry. It was this thought that caused Alice to speak up, "why are you sorry? You can't help it when you fancy someone. It's just this attraction that you don't know that's coming and you can't stop it when you do realize it's there" staring at Samantha willing her to know how sincere she was being. Throughout the whole speech from Alice, Lily was stunned; _'Sammy fancies someone? Its been three years since someone caught her eye and he was a seventh year on the quidditch team! I don't blame her though; Louis is a very nice, smart and handsome bloke... I can see them together till at least graduation, that is if Samantha chooses to act on her crush' _Lily debated.

Noticing her friends discomfort, Lily said, "go get him, Sammy. You two suit each other" smiling, instantly Sam brightened up and persuaded, "I will if you finally dump Woods and you, Marly, finally dump Sirius! Neither of two girls are happy and I refuse to be when my friends aren't!" coyly. It took half an hour, but eventually Marly gave in but Lily still refused until Sam blackmailed, "If you don't I'm telling Petunia you've had sex with Vernon" causing the redhead to jump and sprint out of the door in a split second.

A few seconds later, Sam caught up with her and Lily sighed muttering under her breath about how gullible she was believing that her best friend would actually do that and before she knew it, Lily and Sam had arrived at the Ravenclaw common room entrance. Breathing in deeply, lily raised her hand and knocked, not knowing how you would get into the Ravenclaw quarters, and heard a voice coming from a silver door knocker, "what came first, the chicken or the egg?". Gaining a look of hard concentration on her face, Lily replied, "I think it's a never ending cycle so we can't be sure of what came first" receiving an open door in return.

Stepping through boldly, Sam declared to everyone in the common room, "can we, lily and I, have a word with Louis Roberts and Terrence Woods? Outside if you don't mind" and waiting for the two men to make their way over to them before backing out of the common room and heading down a corridor calling for Louis to follow her and leave the couple alone. Once sure that her best friend and Louis were around the corner and out of hearing distance, lily turned to Terrence who was glaring at Lily, "Terrence? I wan-" but was cut off by the boy, "I'm breaking up with you, Evans. I'm not interested in you anymore. You were just a fling. Now don't you fucking dare cry or I'll make sure that you won't be heard when I've had my way with you" he said threateningly and advancing on Lily. Panicking, the redhead stuttered, "what do you mean 'had your way with me'?" finally backing up into the wall. She was trapped. Her back was up against the hard wall and only a foot in front of her was Woods who was muttering in a low tone, "yes, my way with you... maybe a silencing charm would be best? Or would I enjoy hearing you plead for me to stop? Hmm that would be interesting, wouldn't it? Anyway what to do, what to do...?" tapping his chin with his index finger.

Whimpering slightly now from what was going to happen, Lily tried to draw her wand but her hand was instantly grabbed in a vice-like grip while Woods other hand clutched her chin and forced her to look at him as he slowly dropped the hand down her torso and onto her hip. Instantly trying to fight back, Lily squirmed and thrashed out violently, silently wishing that Sam and Louis hadn't left them alone, but was soon put into a body bind by the idiot trying to assault her. Unable to prevent it any longer, Lily had to endure it as Woods ran his fingers over her breasts and thighs, eventually stripping away her jumper and pyjama top. Starting to sob, Lily thought, _'I am so glad I put a bra on before we left this is horrible. Anyone please walk along the hall and stop him. Please anyone' _ full out sobbing when she finished her plea.

The assault continued from there; eventually Lily's bra, pyjama bottoms and knickers were stripped away from her body and she was entered by her supposedly ex- boyfriend. It was then that, of all people, the Marauders rounded the corner and came across their friend being raped.

Shouting, Sirius, Remus and James all charged forwards and tackled Woods to the floor, beating him to a pulp within an inch of their lives giving Lily enough time to grab her pj bottoms and jumper and throw them on. It was at that moment that Samantha and Louis rounded the opposite corner than the Marauders had and happened upon the scene of Peter sitting next to a sobbing Lily trying to comfort her whilst the other three Marauders where finally standing up and pointing their wands at Woods who was cowering on the floor... Running forward urgently, Sam skidded to a halt in front of Lily, noticed her underwear and pyjama top lying on the floor a few feet away and her appearance and gently asked, "Lils, what did he do to you?" receiving a whispered "rape" from the redhead.

Lily watched as her best friend swore heavily, "that conniving little fuckhead! He will be begging me to stop cursing the shit out of him the little cunt!" as she stood and drew her wand before pointing it between the Ravenclaw's eyes. Obviously realising from the murderous expression on her face, the boys backed away from Sam, with their wands still pointed at Woods, whilst she whispered dangerously, "did you seriously just rape my best friend? Have you any idea how much trouble you are in? You'll be lucky if you can breathe by the time I'm through with you, you little Ravenclaw fuckhead" mentally listing all the bad curses, hexes and jinxes she could use that would cause him damage. As Remus stepped forward and whispered something in Samantha's ear, James and Sirius crept over to Lily, knelt in front of her and beside her respectively and comforted her as they asked what happened. Taking a deep breath, Lily recounted the whole evening to the three boys around her, watching out of the corner of her eye as Sam and Remus hovered and bound Terrence and stormed off in the direction of the main staircase. When she had finished, Sirius, Peter and James stood determinedly as whilst Sirius and Peter walked off in the same direction as the two before them, James strode over to Louis, "did you know what Woods was going to do Lily? 'coz if you did, Merlin help you, you'll be just as dead as he is" with a frightening and intimidating expression.

Automatically, Louis told the truth with such a sincere look about him that James knew he was never going to forgive his supposedly best friend, "I never even knew the thought had crossed his mind. I knew he never liked Lily, he was trying to make you jealous, that I know. But this? I never knew anything of the sort! I'm actually feeling physically ill just being in the same house sa him right now? I really want to help Lily get her own back, if thats alright with you?" leaning around the tall Gryffindor to look pleadingly at the crumpled form on the form. Lily nodded. As James informed Louis as what they were doing with Woods, Lilt tuned out, _'he wants to help me fight back. He actually thinks what his _best friend_ had done is wrong. He isn't friends with Woods, he has basically admitted that just then. Sam's picked a good guy here'_ hardly noticing as James stopped talking and made his way over to her. Hesitantly, James bent over and scooped down to pick Lily up behind her knees and back, not failing to notice her flinch heavily as he did so, and straightened out before sprinting over to Louis and with him joining them, making their way to Dumbledore's office.

When they arrived at the gargoyle to their Headmaster's office, they found the old man waiting patiently for them, the spark in his blue eyes long gone, motioning for the three students to follow them, Dumbledore started up his staircase silently. Once in the large round room with various and unique objects lying majestically on small tables, Lily observed what was in front of her; Sirius, Samantha, Peter and Remus were all sat fidgeting endlessly whilst glaring at the Ravenclaw who was in a small pile unconscious in the middle of the room, only snapping out as James lowered himself onto the only available armchair with Lily still in his arm. '_He seemed reluctant to let go'_, Lily mused, _'it's rather nice, I suppose. How everyone came to my rescue...'. _

A few minutes passed in silence as Dumbledore bent down on his knees to examine Terrence and only praising the boys, "quite a few well- aimed and powerful punches you landed boys. I'm slightly impressed" before moving to sit behind his large oak desk and clasp his hands, interlocking his fingers as he did so. Directing his eyes to Lily, Dumbledore assumed, "is was a full... rape (sorry dear), wasn't it? He actually went the full way?" getting a timid nod from the redhead. Sighing gravely, Dumbledore pleaded with Lily, "please, Miss Evans, I need to know the full story. Right from before you left your dorm to now" eyeing his prefect student sadly.

Snuggling further into James' lap subconsciously, Lily explained, "well, Marly, Alice,Mary, Grace and I were all chatting in the dormitory about how I should dump Woods, here, because I didn't like him anymore. And... Sirius have you and Marly?..." receiving a grimace and slight nod of the head, "ok, so yeah, Marly was going to break up with Sirius and I was going to break up with Woods whilst Sammy was going and try and snog Louis... So together, Sam and I walked over to the Ravenclaw common room, answered the door knocker, asked for Louis and Woods and walked away from the common room. So then Sam took Louis away to do only Merlin knows what, and Terrence said he was breaking up with me and threatening me that if I screamed no one would recognise me anymore but then mused about putting a silencing charm on me. So he did. Thats why I didn't call out for help. Anyway so I tried reaching for why wand but then he grabbed my wrist and face and forced me to watch him undress me. And then he actually... you know went the full way and after a minute, the boys came around the corner. They shouted out and tackled him before beating him up to a pulp whilst I put these clothes on and then Sam and Louis turned the other corner and saw what was going on. Automatically Sam ran over to me and asked what happened so I said he raped me and she stood, drew her wand and pointed it in between his eyes as the Marauders had backed off of him when Sam had stood up. Then Remus and Sam brought him here, then Sirius and Peter followed after making sure I was alright and finally Louis, James and I came here. So yes thats it" staring out of the window on the other side of the room.

Throughout her version of events, Lily felt James' gradually get tighter and tighter showing just how mad he really was, Samantha ducking her head and covering her face with her hands as she muttered how it was her fault, Remus, Sirius and Peters hands all clenched into fists eventually turning white and all the colour drained from Louis' face as he heard what his friend did. Meanwhile, Dumbledore was calmly stroking his phoenix, Fawkes, as he listened with a furrowed brow. Turning slowly around when Lily was done, the Headmaster walked over to the unconscious Ravenclaw and muttered, "enervate" and when Woods was fully revived, Dumbledore spoke in an authoritative and commanding tone, "Terrence, you are hereby suspended from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, charged with a rape offence, you will face a trial in two weeks in front of the Governors to see if you will be expelled or not".

**Authors Note: **mwa hahahaha cliff hanger! Sorry guys it was too tempting! So I promised to do some real life problems on my authors profile and rape was something I wanted to include. This isn't a personal experience, guys, but around my area there have been quite a few close shaves with people I know... Anyway I didn't plan this chapter, I just started writing and it turned out like this so I hoped you all liked it! Thank you for all your reviews and story/author followers! They mean soo much to me, its just so unbelievable! If I could get some more reviewers and everything that would be even better so REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!


	8. Chapter 8: Hospitals and Revenge

After Dumbledore's announcement, an awkward and shock- filled silence erupted into the room. _'suspended? Two weeks to trial? Expelled?'_ Lily thought confused, and as if he was reading her mind, Dumbledore said, "yes suspended. Rape, here at Hogwarts, is an extremely major offence that merits this particular punishment. Now Misters Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew and Miss Smith, please escort Miss Evans to the Hospital Wing, explain what happened and ask her to check Lily over. Things may be far worse than it seems" sharing a significant look with the two females who immediately caught on.

Jumping off James' lap, Lily was tackled in to a great bear hug by Sam who was apologising, "I'm so sorry Lil! If I hadn't gone so far away to talk to Louis, I could have stopped him! Hell, if I hadn't persuaded you to go and break up with him, it wouldn't have happened! It's all my fault that he raped you and if it gets worse" purposely avoiding saying 'pregnant' to spare her own and Lily's feelings. After finishing discussing what would happen to the now suspended boy with the Marauders, the Headmaster turned to Lily, "would you like me to contact your parents?" causing the redheads eyes to go wide and shake her head, "no! I mean they would overly panic... and they don't really want me in the Wizarding World in the first place so this would back up their argument to bring me home" Lily said. Sharing a meaningful look with James, Samantha suggested, "how about we contact Mr. and Mrs. Potter? They already like Lily and they haven't even met her. Mrs. Potter faced the same problem while learning here as well so it will be nice for Lil to talk to her... If thats alright, Lily?" gaining a small nod from the girl.

Consenting to the recommendation, Dumbledore shuffled the Gryffindor's and Louis out of the office and whilst Peter and Remus spilt off from the group to gather the girls, everyone else walked to the Hospital Wing nervously. In front, Sam was dragging Lily worried whilst the redhead tried to stop her friend by dragging her feet along the floor and leaning backwards, behind them Sirius, James and Louis were struggling to understand what Dumbledore had meant when he had said 'things may be far worse than it seems' and were muttering to each other about their theories. Eventually the five people arrived at the Hospital Wing causing Sam to finally let go of Lily making her fall backwards in to Sirius who instinctively caught her, and for the brunette to charge into the patrons office shouting that she was needed urgently. Typically the nurse came bustling over to the group, smoothing her apron down and staring the three boys and Lily over inquisitively, before barking, "who am I tending to?" resulting in the boys pointing at the redhead who blushed deeply.

Madam Promfery had always had a soft spot for Lily since she had visited the Hospital Wing after every Quidditch game and had a chat with everyone in their rather than greeting the team when they entered her common room, it was due to this that the woman gently guided Lily over to a bed at the back of the room, motioning for Samantha to come as well, and closed the curtains leaving the boys to themselves. After a minute of silence, the matron asked, "what happened?" causing Sammy to reply when Lily made it clear she wasn't, "Lily was raped. By Terrence Woods" watching intently as the nurse stumbled backwards and grasped her heart. Once she had caught her breath back, Promfery set about persuading Lily to lie back on her bed, running to her office to grab her wand and performing some diagnostic spells. The only words she actually said loud enough to hear were to Lily, "when was your last period?" which caused all the blood to drain from Lily's face. Stuttering, Lily counted back to her last time of the month and whispered, "2 weeks ago. Merlin... does that mean?" causing the nurse to mutter, "the eggs have probably been released" wave her wand over Lily's stomach and continue her sentence, "your eggs have been released, dear. I'm sorry there's nothing I can do. You may become pregnant" looking anywhere but the two stunned girls.

Without warning, Samantha, who's face had steadily been getting redder and redder as Madam Promfery had told them what the results were, sprinted out of the curtained and immediately started pacing angrily whilst grabbing at her hair nearly pulling it out. Almost instantly the three boys came charging over to the brunette, asking questions about the redhead that was hidden by the curtains. It took the boys a whole five minutes to stop Sam from pacing and even then, James had to sit on her torso whilst Louis and Sirius held her arms and legs down at her sides, and another 5 minutes for them to finally drag the whisper, "she could be pregnant. Her eggs were released two weeks ago... There's a high possibility that she could be... there's nothing Promfery can do and its all my fault" and at that moment, peter, Remus, Marly, Alice, Mary and Grace charged through the Hospital Wing doors. It was quite an entrance to onlookers outside but to the group of friends inside, it was nothing more than a noise.

Noticing Sam being held down by the three boys the new comers hurried to the to the bed only finding the girl's face covered in silent tears and whispering, "its all my fault" over and over again, after a second Mary ventured, "what's your fault, Sammy?" attracting the distraught girls attention. However, Sam needn't reply as Lily emerged from the curtained bed, stumbled over to the group and answered the question, " I could be pregnant, I got raped. By Woods. I have to wait a few weeks to see if I am but there is an awfully high chance" causing the whole group to converge on the redhead all apart from James and Samantha. James had frozen and locked eyes with the girl below him. "I'm sorry, James! I know you wanted her to be pregnant with your kid and only yours and not because some idiot raped her... I'm so sorry James this is all my fau-" Sam whispered sadly trying to hold back tears, but she was cut off before she could properly apologise, "no Sam. Don't you dare blame yourself! We know what happened! You tried to help her get out of a relationship that was bad for her and you were right she had to do it. You couldn't know what was going to happen. But you are with Louis now, aren't you?" receiving a small smile and timid nod in return, "so something good came out of this and thats a bright side. You need to stop blaming yourself and we will all make sure that nothing happens to Lils again, ok?" finally rising off of the bed and engulfing Lily in a hug.

Also rising, Samantha's jumped off the bed and engulfed Lily and James together already promising to help her sister in more ways than imaginable and get revenge on the bastard.

After an hour of loitering in the Hospital Wing, the group were kicked out by the patron and told to immediately go back to the Gryffindor common room where Dumbledore was waiting for them. Throwing Lily on his back, Sirius took flight out of the Hospital, causing Sam to chase them encouraging a race, James to throw Mary on his back, Remus threw Grace on his back (though rather timidly), Peter threw a cautious look at Marlene who ignored it and jumped on Louis' back instead and Alice just to grab Peter's hand and drag him to the common room. When the last of them arrived, they found Sirius on the floor spread eagle and the girls laughing crouched over and James dropping Mary and everyone to carry on into the Gryffindor quarters. When they had entered, the Gryffindors and Ravenclaw found their Headmaster calmly sat by the window on a comfy armchair, a 5 meter radius around him that was empty of students. Nervously, Grace led the group over to the old man seeming to walk calmly through the empty circle followed by everyone else causing the other students in the room to send confused glares in their direction. Ignoring this the sixth years sat around the wise man and waited for him to speak.

Nearly a quarter of an hour passed before the man spoke but he was carefully evaluating the redhead, and her best friend, Lily could tell, _'its one of those feelings, where you can tell when someone is trying to tell what your reaction is... Mine is too complicated to understand... I mean I could be pregnant! There could be this little person growing inside of me... What am I going to do?' _ but her train of thoughts were interrupted by Dumbledore, "I'm surprised that Mr. Woods actually dared to mess with such a tightly knitted group." leaving his statement hanging in the air. Eventually Louis replied, "to be honest, professor, so am I" and after receiving some extremely confused looks from the Gryffindors, he elaborated, "well Terrence isn't usually one to mess with influential people. He sees you 10 Gryffindors as very important because of your smarts to rival ours, the courage that you are so well known for, the power to win a duel, everything that he wants to be. When he started dating Lily he said that he only walked over to her to ask if she could tone down her volume, which I thought was rather rude, but he took the chance to try and bring you all down. Especially James and Sam. Apparently he has a good reason for hating you two but he wont tell me..." making eye contact with everyone.

A minute passed as James and Sam shared concerned looks eventually gaining a look of realisation whilst Louis apologised to Lily for his friends behaviour towards Lily, that was until their Headmaster interrupted them, "well that is a decent explanation as to why he did it, I want to talk about something with you eleven. Now whilst I am curious as to what you or your families have done to upset Mr. Woods, Mr Potter and Miss Smith, I need to discuss your behaviour from now on. Firstly, although he is suspended, Woods will be attending classes and meals as usual, accompanied by an adult between classes, and prohibited from any leisure activities such as going outside and going to quidditch games. Therefore I want Lily guarded at all times, not because I don't think she is capable of defending herself, but rather because I think he believes he can do it once, why not again?" receiving scowls from each student. Taking a deep breath, Dumbledore continued, "so I would like at least two people to accompany Lily everywhere. Anyway, as for your expectable revenge, I don't mind what you do as long as you don't harm him seriously and don't leave your mark" smiling slyly before leaving the room. The group were stunned into silence.

Soon enough, Remus asked, "were we just...?"

"given permission..?" Sirius muttered.

"to prank people?" Peter whispered.

"boys? We have to take full advantage of this opportunity! We will make this bo-" James took charge but was interrupted by Lily.

"no. Not serious harm, Dumbledore said. I don't care if you hurt him honestly but I can't let you five get into trouble over me!"

"5? There are four of us" the four Marauders asked simultaneously.

"do you really expect me to sit out of hurting the bastard?" Samantha smirked.

"or me?" Marly said.

"do you not know me at all?" Grace laughed.

"do you seriously expect me to sit back and not help my friends?" Alice said offended.

One by one, Lily watched her friends sign up to help the Marauders prank the boy that had... raped her. Lily still had a problem with actually coming to terms with what her ex- boyfriend had done. Still had a problem with saying the word, actually. But as Louis signed up, being the last person, Lily snapped out of her self loathing, "what Louis?! He's your best friend!".

Lily only got a dark look in return, "No Lily, no friend of mine would do anything like that to another of my friends and get away with it. I'm going to help you get your revenge and I know him. What he hates, what he's scared of and everything that we could use against him... I'm disappointed I didn't see it before".

Walking towards Louis and taking his face in her hands, Marly made the boy look at her directly, "It is so not your fault. Hear me? None of could have predicted what Woods would have done and it was totally unpredictable. You enjoyed yourself with Sammy didn't you?" receiving a shy nod and blush from the blonde boy, "so who were you to know what was happening? He didn't tell you. You didn't tell him to do it. You didn't do anything that contributed to it. And neither did Sammy, so both of you need to drop it right now. Understand?!" gathering ducked heads in obedience.

The planning started almost immediately with the group travelling up to the boys dorm so they wouldn't be eavesdropped on or interrupted. Once Sam, Louis and Mary had settled onto Remus' bed, Grace, Remus and Peter onto Peter's bed, Mary, Marly and Alice on Sirius's bed and Sirius, James and Lily on James' bed, they brainstormed ideas that they could use. They eventually found a decent idea at about 11 that night and added more details for so long that the sun had started to rise before they noticed the time. By then however, Lily had dropped off into a sleep full of nightmares due to all the drama she had suffered the previous day, it was because of this that the group just watched as she settled her head in James' lap and feet in Sirius' and then smiled as she drifted off.

As she dreamt, Lily managed to come across the options she had if she did become pregnant; she could have an abortion or go through with the pregnancy and give the kid to someone that was unable to become pregnant. Either way, lily had to suffer watching herself struggle through each option and watch her reactions.

As she felt herself being gently shaken, Lily fluttered her eyelids open only to come face to face with James Potter nearly making her scream but he quickly shushed her by putting his finger to his lips and pointing at their sister. Sam was draped across Louis' chest and her hand playing plays with his hair even in her sleep. Louis was awake, however, and watching the girl with obvious affection in his eyes. Careful not to disturb the two, Lily kicked Sirius in the gut and pointed to the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw that were taking up nearly all of Remus' bed whilst Mary was curled into a ball when he finally woke up.

But today was the day of the extravagant prank on Woods and they all needed to be alert for it. It was then that James' woke everyone up and demanded to go down to breakfast before they started setting up...

**Authors Note: ** Thank you to everyone that has reviewed! I love you all! I hope this stopped all the suspense that you guys were upset about? But REVIEW PLLEAAASSSEEEE? REVIEW IF YOU LIKE COOKIES! I LOVE YOU!


	9. Chapter 9: Threats and Broken Bones

At breakfast, everyone was nearly falling asleep and dipping their heads in their food in exhaustion thanks to the late night, or early morning, that they had suffered through. Worst off was Lily though. Every time she glanced up from her food, she spotted Woods staring at her evilly causing her to shudder and look back down at her food. After the fifth time this had happened, Peter nudged the redhead from beside her and asked what was happening, "what's up, Lils? You're acting weirdly".

In response, Lily motioned over to the Ravenclaw table with her head causing the rest of the groups' heads to swivel around and glare evilly at the boy that was staring at his victim of the previous day. Muttering out of the corner of her mouth, Sam demanded, "girls, get Lily the hell out of here. I'll get you something to eat Lils so don't look at me like that" sensing the redheads angry glare, "I don't want anything happening to anyone so scram" kicking Marly in the shins. Understanding the message that the girl opposite her had given her, Marlene rose from her seat, hauled Lily from her own and dragged her away to the common room, eagerly followed by the other girls forming a shield around the frightened redhead. Once she had watched Terrence follow the girls out of the Great Hall with his eyes, Samantha whispered to Remus and Peter, "go get Lil some toast with butter and marmalade and some chocolate pudding. Then go straight to the common room, ok?" receiving nods and the boys exiting the long room.

Waiting a few minutes so it wouldn't look suspicious to the Ravenclaw, Sam left the Great Hall with instructions to James and Sirius to stay there acting as if nothing has happened even if Terrence was to leave or anything. Grumbling in disagreement but obeying, the black haired boys made faces at the girls back so it looked like everything was alright. Exactly 3 seconds later, Woods jumped off the bench he was sat on and sauntered out of the hall causing the boys' eyes to widen dramatically.

Once outside the Great Hall, Samantha heard fast footsteps that seemed to be coming in her direction so she turned only to be a foot away from the Ravenclaw that had raped her best friend. Determined not to appear weak, Samantha stood to her fullest height and demanded, "what do you want Woods".

"oh nothing. Just wanted to warn you of something"

"oh yeah. What's that?" Sam asked slightly sceptical.

"you know your friend, Lily?"

Receiving a concerned frown and nod from the brunette.

"well, I'm going to get her again. And you. And all your other little bitches. Bewa-" he threatened but was cut off by Sam tackling the boy causing them both to roll down the stairs. At the bottom, they were directly outside the Great Hall and because the doors were open everyone could see Samantha throw a right hook and hit its target of the Ravenclaw's jaw.

Everyone in the Hall was stunned. Samantha Smith beating her best friends boyfriend to a pulp? Had he hurt Lily somehow? Inside the Hall, Sirius and James exchanged dark looks in response to the questions being thrown around the Hall. They were both true. The questions. And the answer was yes to both. "Apart from the boyfriend part,everyone is pretty exact" James whispered before he jumped off the bench and ran towards the Entrance Hall where his sister was fighting.

Meanwhile, Woods was twisting Sam's right arm behind her back, so far that everyone in a 10 meter vicinity heard it break, whilst she pummelled his torso and face resulting in a black eye nearly straight away from the strength of the punch. When James and Sirius arrived in the Hall, Samantha had finally drawn her wand and had it against the pulse at Woods throat, not bothering to check how her arm was bending oddly even though she was using it.

In a loud and clear voice, Sam asked, "What was that you just told me? Sorry I didn't quite catch that" as she had noticed the presence of her brothers and now the rest of the student body and the professors whilst Terrence hadn't.

In reply, Woods spoke loudly and clearly still oblivious, "I said I was going to get you, your best friend and the rest of your Gryffindor bitches that you call friends. Get it? I'm going to do what I did to Evans to the rest of you"

"oh yeah, Woods? And what did you do to my best friend?"

"I raped her you dumb bitch. You found her, didn't you? And I'm going to do that to you, Evans, Gellen, Prewitt, McKinnon and McDonald so I would wa-" but Terrence suddenly noticed everyone around the two as James and Sirius were charging at the boy with their wands out.

Before they could actually curse Woods, though, Dumbledore was behind them and placing a calming hand on their shoulders, "thats enough, boys. Miss Smith is handling the situation well. Yet again." before turning to the other professors and students, "please go back to your common rooms students. Professors please accompany Miss Smith, and Mr's Potter, Black and Woods to my office please" and automatically both orders were followed with out hesitation.

A few seconds later, when Sammy had tried to stand and fell back down, it was discovered that it wasnt just her arm that was broken, something was wrong with her leg. As a result, Dumbledore asked Flitwick, "Filius please send for Poppy please. I need her healthy for her explanation".

He then asked Sam, "do you think you can walk on it?" but was cut off by James and Sirius both objecting,

"of course she can't walk on it!"

and "are you mad? She can't even get up"

Slowly, Samantha stubbornly rose avoiding stepping on her injured leg and using her good arm to smack the boys over the head, "what do you think I am? A china doll? A lot worse has happened to me and you know that so leave it alone" and hobbled down the corridor towards the Headmasters office. Meanwhile, McGonagall, Slughorn and Sprout were already leading Woods to the headmasters office leaving the three others to make their own way there. Mysteriously, Dumbledore had disappeared a minute prior to this.

Still determined not to let their sister look after herself and act like nothing was wrong, Sirius caught up to her and hoisted the girl over his shoulder. Screaming in surprise, Sam started banging her fists on Sirius' back before noticing who it was and quietly threatened, "you know Sirius, if you don't put me down right now I can easily tug on your belt and put you in an uncomfortable and painful position. Put. Me. Down. Now" enunciating the last four words carefully.

Laughing it off casually but shooting James a concerned and slightly scared look, Sirius replied, "as if I would leave you to injure yourself any further! I saw him break your arm but what did you do to your ankle? We can't even leave you alone for three minutes" half seriously and half jokingly.

Giving up with trying to persuade the black haired boy to leave her alone, Sam slumped and released all the tension from her body, "I know. He warned me that he was going to get us all and I tackled him. And we may have been at the top of thee stairs. So we may have rolled down them all. Mostly me on the bottom since I put too much momentum into the tackle. Yeah... shut up" when the boys started laughing at the girls red face.

By then the three students had caught up with the professors and livid Ravenclaw by the gargoyle that covered the staircase to Dumbledore's office, and followed them up when the Deputy head had said the password (fizzing whizbees). Once they had entered the room, the group found Dumbledore in his office along with the entire board of governors causing everyone to stop dead. Seeing as she was still on Sirius' shoulder therefore facing the door and not facing who was there, Sam asked, "why have we stopped by the door? Can you put me down now, please?" gaining her wish when Sirius gently grabbed her waist and pulled her off his shoulder.

Instantly Sam saw who was standing behind and cowered into her brothers side, grabbed James' hand and tugged him closer just in case. Calmly, Dumbledore said, "Terrence Woods, these people belong to the board on governors for Hogwarts. I have just fetched them from their homes. You and Mr's Potter and Black along with Miss Smith are going to explain what has happened. I they deem it fit, you trial will be moved to Friday morning, so in two days time" receiving a comical pop sound from Woods jaw dropping open.

Slowly, the head of the governors stepped forward, conjured everyone a plush purple armchair and motioned them to sit before turning to Woods and demanding an explanation of what had happened. Stalling, Terrence sat in the chair furthest away from the head governor which just so happened to follow him with his hawk eyes.

A half hour later, Woods, Samantha, Sirius and James had all accounted their day and the fight that had broken out, eventually one of the governors whispered to Dumbledore causing him to listen intently. After a minute, Dumbledore rose out of his seat and announced, "the governors and I have decided that Terrence Woods' trial will be in two days. This gives you enough to prepare a defence is you wish and too little time for your threat to be carried out. Security around you, Woods, will increase and another incident like this will not occur again. I'm afraid, Miss Smith, that whilst this was a purpose of defence and you were severely injured, I am giving you a months worth of detention for fighting" at the detention information, Sirius and James physically tensed and frowned.

Knowing the boys were probably going to retaliate, Sam nodded, "thats fine sir, just send a place and time when you are free but can I go and tell the girls what has happened please? I think its important that they know considering what may be an effect of what Woods did yesterday" receiving curious glances from the governors and Woods. For some reason the glances ignited a fury inside the broken girl, "oh didn't you know? Lily could be pregnant. Her eggs have been released and there is a high chance of her becoming pregnant. There isn't anything that can be done either. So thank you for moving the idiots trial, its appreciated by everyone" smiled sarcastically and marched as well as she could out of the office. Shaking their heads to clear their minds, James and Sirius saluted and followed their sister from the room.

By the time the boys had caught up with Sam, she was at the top of the sixth floor staircase and only a flight of stairs and a corridor from the common room and her friends, the thing was that her face had turned a pale green due to the pain from her arm and leg. Hesitantly, Sirius asked, "why aren't you going to the Hospital Wing? We need to get you sorted out. You're green so don't tell me its fine" but was ignored by the girl who carried on marching to the common room.

No matter how much the boys tried to change Sammy's course to the Hospital Wing, she would always turn around and head back to her original destination. Giving in, James and Sirius followed after the Gryffindor keeping a careful eye on her as she stumbled and turned greener and greener as she walked more on her leg. After 5 minutes, the trio finally arrived at the Gryffindor portrait and said the password (Sword of Gryffindor) and entered when the Fat Lady had finished flirting with the Gryffindor boys.

As they walked in, everyone stopped chatting with their friends about things that many others would consider pointless, leaving a stunned silence in the Gryffindor quarters. The reason? They had all noticed the angle at which Samantha's arm was bent and how her leg was sticking away from her body oddly. What silenced the room even more was the mood that the girl brought with her; determined and pissed off, to be frank. Sirius and James entered a second later which caused the whole room to go up into an uproar about what might have happened.

Having been subjected to this many times before, Samantha carried on walking towards the girls staircase, persistent to fill the girls in about what had just happened and what they had to do to keep safe. Not realising that the boys had gone to fill in Remus and Peter, Sam struggled to get up the stairs, but when she did, Sam didn't waste any time making sure the girls weren't startled when she banged the door open. Already feeling weaker than when she was walking, Sam stumbled over to her bed and collapsed effectively causing everyone to huddle around her.

After catching her breath, Sam whispered, "I sent Remus and Peter to go get your food, Lils, and then followed you all up when they had left and made Sirius and James stay in the Great Hall to keep an eye on woods. Turns out he followed me. He threatened that he would try and rape us all and Lily before he left" she managed to get out of her mouth before throwing up and passing out from the pain in her arm and leg.

As a result, Lily screamed in fear, Marlene and Mary both ran to the bathroom to wet a flannel and Grace and Alice ran out of the room, most likely to fetch the boys and notify someone that Samantha had passed out. The girls still had no idea what had happened to their friend, what had happened to her leg and arm that were bending oddly and why she had turned so green. They wouldn't know for a while either, unless the brunette woke up soon or James and Sirius knew how she got in to this condition.

Soon enough, McGonagall barged in to the sixth years' dormitory and started muttering how she should have gone straight to the Hospital Wing and not warned her friends first since they were safe. Still confused, Lily, Marly and Mary all met up with the Marauders, Alice and Grace in the common room, closely followed by McGonagall who was levitating their friend down. Not even acknowledging the girls friends, Minerva McGonagall floated the unconscious girl out of the Gryffindor quarters and to the Hospital Wing. Cautiously, the Gryffindor sixth years followed their Head of House and sister to the Hospital wing where she was immediately rushed to a bed by Madam Promfery and shooed away from the girl while the woman ran diagnostic spells.

To Lily, this all felt familiar apart from the positions were reversed and when it was lily she wasn't passed out. Soon enough, Promfery stated that Sam had only passed out from pain but she was going to stay that way until the pain had faded, the nurse then mused, "it also seems that she has also been extremely stressed, it may be that she passed out from the pain AND her body not being able to cope with what's going on at the moment" before throwing the tightly knit group a sympathetic smile and walking away to get Sam's painkillers.

**Author's Note: ** I may just be obsessed with cliff hangers recently! Anyway, I think I should start replying to each review so you all know how much I appreciate and love them and you! I shall start from the beginning...

**Siriuslysherlocked221: **I hope I have improved from my first chapter and added more dialogue like you suggested!

**Kt: **I hope I have still been pleasing you!

**Guest: **I love the Marauders to pieces and whilst I love the trio and next gen fanfics that I've read, I could never love anything more than the Marauders

**Chrismasters: **I'm taking that you like this story seeing as you have asked me to update soon on most chapter and for that I thank you! The suspense was what I was aiming for

**TicklishPear:** Whats your fanfic about? Send me a link and I will read it! But thank you for the praise

**LadyVanya: **I think the first chapter was a little rushed because I was so excited to post it... but thank you for your praise it means a lot

**loveistheprotection:** oh you -.- I'm joking, hey turnip! Thanks for the praise hun!

Thank you to everyone that has reviewed! I love everyone that does so please do! Whether its good or bad, praise or criticism, I love to hear from you and know what you all think! What do you think Of Woods, Sam, and Lily's adventures? A bit much? Answer in a review! And thank you to everyone that has followed me as an author or followed the story! All this means so much to me and I'm not kidding! Thanks guys I love you! I LOVE YOU! YOU HEAR ME? GOOD! NOM SEXY MARAUDERS!


	10. Authors Note: please read!

Urmmm hi guys *ducks things thrown at me*

I'm sorry I haven't updated in what seems like years but the truth is, Im not going to... I don't like this fanfiction anymore, I don't like the plot and the way I've developed my characters. I'm sorry but that's what I think.

But here's the deal. I'm going to write another chapter story about the Marauders, apart from this time I'm writing all of it and then rereading each one before I post. That way they come out quicker and I can get everything sorted and not have to worry about being in accordance to previous chapters because I can edit them easier. Does that make sense to anyone but me? Anyway, in going to find this easier and all that.

What I do need though, from you guys, is what you want to happen in this new story. It won't come out for a while, but I need some ideas for what is going to happen. I have a few (don't ask, I'm not going to reveal) but not enough.

What you'll need to know is that it will be in sixth year, Lily and James become friends and the war and school put them through loads of problems. I might nick a few ideas from 'All Right, Evans?' by CokeBottleK because I love it but I'm not sure yet. Anyway please leave a review with any ideas and what you think and I promise to take them all into consideration.

Anyway this new fanfiction I'm starting will be started on 26/07/2013 so I have some time to make a timeline and some rough ideas down. Hopefully, depending on how long each chapter is and how often I can get on the computer, I will have the first chapter posted by the end of the summer holidays in six weeks time.. Maybe seven.

PLEASE LEAVE ANY IDEAS AND WHAT YOU THINK OF MY IDEA AND IM EXTREMELY SORRY FOR ABANDONING THIS STORY!

Ill love you all forever, please keep subscribed or following me!

-TSMIH

(update) Hi I know I only posted this yesterday but... I NEED SOME IDEAS FOR A TITLE PLEASE CAN YOU HELP ME? Love you all:)


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